Police response to Christchurch massacre was 'exemplary'
Alex Berry
December 9, 2020
An independent panel has praised the police response to the 2019 attacks on two mosques by a white supremacist. However, the review has also highlighted areas for improvement.
Hundreds of police officers were involved in the response to the attack.Image: Reuters TV
The review was published by the independent debrief panel. It found that over the first 48 hours of police operations:
"New Zealand was kept safe and order was restored;"
"The largest ever criminal investigation was well managed;"
"The process of returning bodies to their families was set in place with remarkable speed."
The New Zealand Police (NZP) had acted in response to an attack by a white supremacist that left 51 people dead and many others injured.
The panel judged that the NZP handled events "with professionalism, courage, compassion and cultural propriety."
Some room for improvement
But it wasn't all praise. The panel went on to say that it had "identified processes and systems that could be improved if such an event were to happen again."
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster acknowledged that concerns had been raised by families and victims regarding the police's response.
"We want to be as open and transparent as possible about how we conducted our operation," he said.
He added that police would work with members of the Muslim community to implement the recommendations of the report. One of the problems highlighted by the report was the understaffing of family and ethnic liaison officers who were unable to respond to the sheer volume of information requests.
New Zealand holds memorial for mosque attack victims
Thousands in the New Zealand city of Christchurch have remembered the victims of deadly shootings at local mosques two weeks ago. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for a global effort to end violent extremism.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Melville
Call for global action
At Friday's memorial in a Christchurch park, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called on her country to "be the nation that discovers the cure" to the irrational hate and fear thought to be behind the March 15 mosque attacks. But she freely admitted that New Zealand itself was not immune to such "viruses." She has won praise from around the world for the way she has dealt with the tragedy.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Melville
A nation mourns
Thousands gathered for the memorial service at North Hagley Park. New Zealand has seen many outpourings of grief and condemnation after the attack, and its leaders have taken immediate action to tighten the country's previously lax gun laws. Military-style semi-automatic and automatic firearms like those used in the March 15 attack are to be banned from April 11.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/STR
Singing for peace and harmony
Among those performing at the Christchurch ceremony was Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens. Islam, himself a Muslim convert, performed his song "Peace Train." "Our hearts go out to the families of those whose lives were snatched away in that evil carnage while they were worshipping at the mosque two weeks ago," he said before his performance.
Image: picture-alliance/Zuma Press/P.J. Heller
National grief
The shootings by the suspected Australian gunman also left many people injured. Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel called the atrocity "an attack on us all." But, she said, in the end a deed aimed at dividing people had "united us" instead. Services were also held in several other New Zealand cities.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Baker
Speaking of forgiveness
The service in Christchurch was also attended by numerous dignitaries, including Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Among those who spoke was Farid Ahmed, the husband of Husna Ahmed, one of those who died in the attack in the Al Noor mosque. He told the crowd he had forgiven the shooter because of his beliefs. "I don't want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano," Ahmed said.
The report was more critical of the focus of security agencies on Islamist terrorism at the expense of other emerging threats and produced a series of recommendations to help better deal with these problems.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern accepted the report's suggestions. New Zealand police said they would consider the review panel's recommendations as part of the government's response to the Royal Commission's report.
