Armed Offenders Squad
Encyclopedia
The Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) is a specialist unit of the New Zealand Police
designed to "cordon, contain and appeal to" armed and dangerous offenders. As the name explains, they are called upon when conflict with an armed offender has occurred or is considered imminent.
The AOS draw upon a varied arsenal of weapons and are often seen in heavy body armour. By contrast, most front-line police officers in New Zealand
are lightly protected and do not normally carry firearm
s. The establishment of the AOS is an attempt to retain this situation (lightly armed police officers being the standard) and yet retain the ability to deal with offenders too dangerous for measures like pepper spray
or a baton.
, Wellington
and one in Waitakere
, Auckland
- that involved firearms.
One of the highest-profile AOS interventions is their action during the Aramoana massacre
on 13–14 November 1990, which involved at least 150 police officers. Officers from the Special Tactics Group
were also present at the crisis. Sergeant Stewart Guthrie
, an NCO in the AOS, was killed in the massacre, although he arrived alone with only a revolver, ahead of the fully equipped team from Dunedin.
On 15 October 2007, members of the New Zealand police, Armed Offenders Squad, and Special Tactics Group
conducted several raids across New Zealand
in response to the uncovering of alleged paramilitary training camps deep in the Urewera mountain ranges. Roughly 300 police were involved in the raids. Four guns and roughly 230 rounds of ammunition were seized and 17 people were arrested. According to the police the raids were a culmination of more than a year of surveillance that uncovered and monitored the training camps. The warrants were executed under the Summary Proceedings Act, the Terrorism Suppression Act
, and the Arms Act
. Raids were conducted in Wellington
, Christchurch
, Taupo
and Tauranga
. Allegations of New Zealand Police searching a school bus also surfaced.
The Armed Offenders Squad were also involved in a shooting on a motorway in Auckland on 23 January 2009. A squad member accidentally shot and killed innocent teenager Halatau Naitoko as a gunman threatened a truck driver, and Naitoko was caught in the line of fire. A former police inspector called for the squad member who shot Naitoko to be charged while AOS training would be changed to avoid future incidents similar to the Naitoko case.
The AOS has been involved with the Special Tactics Group
in the 2009 Napier shootings
.
Members of the AOS are eligible for selection into the Special Tactics Group
(STG) the full time elite anti-terrorist unit of the New Zealand Police
. This unit trains together with the New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) however only limited information on it is released by the New Zealand Police.
Members receive additional pay above the regular police wage, in one case around $9,000 per year in 2008.
Posting to the AOS is not a full-time duty, and members are officially members of other branches such as the Criminal Investigation Branch
(CIB) or general duties. In the event of an incident requiring AOS attendance, the on-duty officers will be paged
by the communications centre. They then assemble at their base, to draw arms and get other equipment, before responding to the scene.
carbines. Both the standard front end and the RIS
rails are used. Accessories such as Surefire
Flashlights, Aimpoint and EOtech scopes, front grips, and slings have been seen in use with the AOS. Other equipment includes: pump-action shotguns, namely the Remington 870, for both breaching and CS gas deployment; the HK 79 grenade launcher for delivery of CS gas
; semi-automatic .223 rifles and tactical vests. Extra gear such as drop-leg holsters and magazine pouches have been seen in use, but are optional to the officer. Ballistic vests, Kevlar helmets, and occasionally ballistic shield
s are also used.
The AOS snipers use a rifle made by Accuracy International
known as the L96
When responding to incidents, or executing planned operations, AOS officers utilise both standard marked and unmarked cars, and large four-wheel drive
vehicles, such as the Nissan Patrol
. These are fitted with running boards and roof rails, to allow officers to stand on the side while the vehicle is in motion, as well as having enclosed boxes on the roof for carrying equipment.
New Zealand Police
The New Zealand Police is the national police force of New Zealand, responsible for enforcing criminal law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout New Zealand...
designed to "cordon, contain and appeal to" armed and dangerous offenders. As the name explains, they are called upon when conflict with an armed offender has occurred or is considered imminent.
The AOS draw upon a varied arsenal of weapons and are often seen in heavy body armour. By contrast, most front-line police officers in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
are lightly protected and do not normally carry firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s. The establishment of the AOS is an attempt to retain this situation (lightly armed police officers being the standard) and yet retain the ability to deal with offenders too dangerous for measures like pepper spray
Pepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...
or a baton.
History
The AOS was formally started by New Zealand SAS soldier "Shocker Shaw" and Police Inspector Perry in 1964, in response to the deaths of four police officers in two separate incidents - one in Lower HuttLower Hutt
Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Its council has adopted the name Hutt City Council, but neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This alternative name can lead to confusion, as there are two cities in the...
, Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and one in Waitakere
Waitakere
Waitakere City was the name of a city which existed from 1989 until 2010 in the Auckland region. It was New Zealand's fifth largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%...
, Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
- that involved firearms.
One of the highest-profile AOS interventions is their action during the Aramoana massacre
Aramoana massacre
The Aramoana massacre was a mass murder that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, New Zealand. Resident David Gray, a 33-year-old unemployed man, began indiscriminately shooting people in the township with a scoped semi-automatic rifle, after a verbal dispute with...
on 13–14 November 1990, which involved at least 150 police officers. Officers from the Special Tactics Group
Special Tactics Group
The Special Tactics Group , formerly known as the Anti-Terrorist Squad, is the full-time tactical and counter-terrorism group of the New Zealand Police....
were also present at the crisis. Sergeant Stewart Guthrie
Stewart Graeme Guthrie
Stewart Graeme Guthrie, GC of New Zealand is the most recent civilian recipient of the George Cross, the highest award for conspicuous gallantry not in the face of an enemy awarded in certain Commonwealth countries...
, an NCO in the AOS, was killed in the massacre, although he arrived alone with only a revolver, ahead of the fully equipped team from Dunedin.
On 15 October 2007, members of the New Zealand police, Armed Offenders Squad, and Special Tactics Group
Special Tactics Group
The Special Tactics Group , formerly known as the Anti-Terrorist Squad, is the full-time tactical and counter-terrorism group of the New Zealand Police....
conducted several raids across New Zealand
2007 New Zealand anti-terror raids
The 2007 New Zealand anti-terror raids were a series of armed police raids conducted on Monday, 15 October 2007, in response to the discovery of an alleged paramilitary training camp deep in the Urewera mountain range near the town of Ruatoki in the eastern Bay of Plenty...
in response to the uncovering of alleged paramilitary training camps deep in the Urewera mountain ranges. Roughly 300 police were involved in the raids. Four guns and roughly 230 rounds of ammunition were seized and 17 people were arrested. According to the police the raids were a culmination of more than a year of surveillance that uncovered and monitored the training camps. The warrants were executed under the Summary Proceedings Act, the Terrorism Suppression Act
Terrorism Suppression Act 2002
The Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 is a piece of anti-terrorism legislation from New Zealand.In the first test of the Act, during the 2007 New Zealand anti-terror raids, the Solicitor-General declined to press charges under it, because the legislation was too complex. It was amended in late 2007....
, and the Arms Act
Arms Act (New Zealand)
The Arms Act 1983 is the primary statute controlling the possession and use of firearms in New Zealand.- Basic principles of the Act :The basic premise of the New Zealand arms control regime is the licensing of individuals as being fit and proper persons to possess firearms...
. Raids were conducted in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, Taupo
Taupo
Taupo is a town on the shore of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the seat of the Taupo District Council and lies in the southern Waikato Region....
and Tauranga
Tauranga
Tauranga is the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region, in the North Island of New Zealand.It was settled by Europeans in the early 19th century and was constituted as a city in 1963...
. Allegations of New Zealand Police searching a school bus also surfaced.
The Armed Offenders Squad were also involved in a shooting on a motorway in Auckland on 23 January 2009. A squad member accidentally shot and killed innocent teenager Halatau Naitoko as a gunman threatened a truck driver, and Naitoko was caught in the line of fire. A former police inspector called for the squad member who shot Naitoko to be charged while AOS training would be changed to avoid future incidents similar to the Naitoko case.
The AOS has been involved with the Special Tactics Group
Special Tactics Group
The Special Tactics Group , formerly known as the Anti-Terrorist Squad, is the full-time tactical and counter-terrorism group of the New Zealand Police....
in the 2009 Napier shootings
2009 Napier shootings
Jan Molenaar, 51, was born of Ngāti Kahungunu extraction grew up in Napier where he went to Nelson Park Primary School, Napier Intermediate School and William Colenso College. In the 1980s he spent six years in the territorial armoured corps of the Hawke's Bay and Wellington Regiment...
.
Structure
, there are 17 squads throughout New Zealand, covering all major population centres. The mission of the AOS is to provide police with a means of effectively and safely responding to and resolving situations in which there is a risk of firearms or similarly dangerous weapons being involved, and when weapons are directed against either members of the public, or the police service. The AOS is made up entirely of volunteers, who must have passed a national selection and training course, with further, localised training given on a district level. They are part time, come from all branches of the New Zealand Police, and operate on a call out basis. According to official figures, AOS units attended 533 incidents nationwide in the year 1998/99.Members of the AOS are eligible for selection into the Special Tactics Group
Special Tactics Group
The Special Tactics Group , formerly known as the Anti-Terrorist Squad, is the full-time tactical and counter-terrorism group of the New Zealand Police....
(STG) the full time elite anti-terrorist unit of the New Zealand Police
New Zealand Police
The New Zealand Police is the national police force of New Zealand, responsible for enforcing criminal law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace throughout New Zealand...
. This unit trains together with the New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) however only limited information on it is released by the New Zealand Police.
Members receive additional pay above the regular police wage, in one case around $9,000 per year in 2008.
Supporting units
The AOS is supported by the New Zealand Police Negotiation Teams and canine units specifically trained for use in situations involving firearms. The PNT units are specially trained in psychology and crisis resolution techniques. A great majority of their callouts are to AOS incidents, of which the majority have been resolved peacefully. However, the PNT's may also be called out to several other situations that include, threatened suicides to high-risk hostage situations. Nationwide, there are 17 Police Negotiation Teams, with each AOS having a dedicated team attached to it. Similar to the AOS units themselves, the negotiators are all part time volunteers. The Police Negotiation Teams responded to a total of 330 incidents in the 1998/99 year.Requirements
All AOS members are volunteers drawn from the New Zealand Police. They must complete highly rigorous training, and applications are carefully screened.Posting to the AOS is not a full-time duty, and members are officially members of other branches such as the Criminal Investigation Branch
Criminal Investigation Branch
The Criminal Investigation Branch is one of the main branches of the New Zealand Police and it is dedicated to investigating and solving serious crime, and targeting organized crime and recidivist criminals. The CIB has existed since the civil Police Force was formed in 1886 by the Police Force...
(CIB) or general duties. In the event of an incident requiring AOS attendance, the on-duty officers will be paged
Pager
A pager is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then requested to call...
by the communications centre. They then assemble at their base, to draw arms and get other equipment, before responding to the scene.
Equipment
In keeping with the weapons available to front-line officers, the AOS are issued with Glock 17 pistols and Bushmaster M4A3Bushmaster M4A3
The M4 Type Carbine is a firearm manufactured by Bushmaster Firearms International, modeled on the AR-15 platform.-Overview:The M4 Type Carbine is effectively a reproduction of the Colt M4 Carbine, but is usually only semi-automatic for legality within the U.S. civilian market...
carbines. Both the standard front end and the RIS
Rail Integration System
Rail Interface System are the primary method of attaching accessories to small firearms such as assault rifles and light machine guns...
rails are used. Accessories such as Surefire
Surefire
SureFire, LLC. is a Fountain Valley, California company whose primary products are flashlights, headlamps, weapon mounted lights and laser sights. In addition, Surefire also manufactures knives, sound suppressors, Picatinny Rails and batteries. The company is a major supplier of flashlights to the...
Flashlights, Aimpoint and EOtech scopes, front grips, and slings have been seen in use with the AOS. Other equipment includes: pump-action shotguns, namely the Remington 870, for both breaching and CS gas deployment; the HK 79 grenade launcher for delivery of CS gas
CS gas
2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile is the defining component of a "tear gas" commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent...
; semi-automatic .223 rifles and tactical vests. Extra gear such as drop-leg holsters and magazine pouches have been seen in use, but are optional to the officer. Ballistic vests, Kevlar helmets, and occasionally ballistic shield
Ballistic shield
A ballistic shield or tactical shield is a hand-held shield that is capable of defending the user from handguns, shotguns and submachine guns. Less common are heavier and thicker rifle-protection shields that are mounted on wheels for ease of mobility...
s are also used.
The AOS snipers use a rifle made by Accuracy International
Accuracy International
Accuracy International is a specialist British firearms manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England and best known for producing the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles...
known as the L96
When responding to incidents, or executing planned operations, AOS officers utilise both standard marked and unmarked cars, and large four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
vehicles, such as the Nissan Patrol
Nissan Patrol
The Nissan Patrol is a four-wheel drive vehicle manufactured by Nissan in Japan since 1951. In Japan since 1980, it has been known as the Nissan Safari. The Patrol is available in Australasia, Central and South America, South Africa, parts of Southeast Asia and Western Europe as well as Iran and...
. These are fitted with running boards and roof rails, to allow officers to stand on the side while the vehicle is in motion, as well as having enclosed boxes on the roof for carrying equipment.
See also
- Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) - United States
- Special Tactics GroupSpecial Tactics GroupThe Special Tactics Group , formerly known as the Anti-Terrorist Squad, is the full-time tactical and counter-terrorism group of the New Zealand Police....
- New Zealand - South African Police Service Special Task ForceSouth African Police Service Special Task ForceThe South African Police Service Special Task Force is the special operations element of the South African Police Service .The STF is considered to be among the best of such units in the world....
- Specialist Response and SecuritySpecialist Response and SecurityThe Specialist Response and Security Team is the Special Operations and Police Tactical Group of the Australian Federal Police having responsibility for tactical and specialist operations within the Australian Capital Territory...
- Australia - Tactical Operations UnitState Protection GroupThe State Protection Group is part of the Specialist Operations division of the New South Wales Police Force, having been established in 1991 to deal with extraordinary policing responses. The SPG directly supports police in high-risk incidents such as sieges with specialised tactical,...
- New South Wales - Territory Response GroupTerritory Response GroupThe Territory Response Group is the Police Tactical Group of the Northern Territory Police. Part of the Territory Response Section the TRG is tasked to provide general and specialist support to other units of the Northern Territory Police...
- Northern Territory - Special Emergency Response Team (Queensland)Special Emergency Response Team (Queensland)Special Emergency Response Team is the Police Tactical Group of the Queensland Police, Australia. SERT is part of the Specialist Response Branch within the Operations Support Command which incorporates the Explosive Operations Response Team and the Negotiator Coordination Unit...
- Special Tasks and RescueSpecial Tasks and RescueSpecial Tasks and Rescue is the Police Tactical Group of the South Australia Police.-History:Formed on 30 November 1978 the South Australian Police STAR Group was a rationalisation of specialist resources into one command/unit. Specialist units had existed prior to 1978 within SAPOL to deal with...
- South Australia - Special Operations Group of the Tasmania PoliceSpecial Operations Group of the Tasmania PoliceThe Special Operations Group is the Police Tactical Group of the Australian Tasmania Police. SOG is a highly trained group within the Tasmania Police Service, made up of current serving Tasmania Police members from varied sections and branches.-Mission:...
- Victoria Police Special Operations GroupVictoria Police Special Operations GroupThe Special Operations Group is the police tactical group of the Victoria Police.-History:The Special Operations Group was formed in 1977. Its main function was to provide a response to politically motivated and criminal terrorist activity. Today, this remains the number one priority for the...
- Victoria, Australia - Western Australia Police Tactical Response Group