By Angela Beswick
A 28-year-old man will appear in the Manukau District Court this morning charged with attempted murder following the shooting of a rookie policeman in South Auckland.
Constable Jeremy Snow is recovering in intensive care at Middlemore Hospital, after being shot in Papatoetoe in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
He underwent emergency surgery yesterday, and it is understood his mother Colleen is at his bedside.
Police Association president Greg O'Connor told Radio LIVE the shooting has shaken those working the thin blue line.
"The people it is hardest on often are the partners of police officers - in South Auckland and elsewhere, who will be going to work aware just what their partners and family members are facing each night on the street."
Mr Snow, 28, was shot three times - once in each leg and once in the elbow. One round hit his femoral artery, causing heavy blood loss.
Three firearms were yesterday discovered by the police - a shotgun, a rifle and a high-calibre pistol.
The 28-year-old man is due to appear in Manukau District Court today on a charge of attempted murder. Police were last night still searching for a second suspect.
Mr Snow's grandfather Gordon Bailey told Radio LIVE his grandson is a devoted policeman and the family is shocked he has been wounded in the line of duty.
"He enjoys his work and he's a good young man - honest and reliable," he says. "We're surprised this should happen to him."
His father, David Snow, says he is just glad his son is alive.
"It was very emotional [seeing him in hospital], he can't keep his eyes open - he's all wired up to the machines and everything else in intensive care," he says.
"But he's still Jeremy. He's not very coherent; I couldn't really talk to him a lot. I just said I love him and he said he loves me too."
The shooting has prompted calls for consideration of harsher sentences for those convicted of attacks on police.
Police Minister Judith Collins has said she would "certainly like to hear people's opinions" as to whether the consequences for attacking a police officer who is "exercising the powers that we ask them to", should be increased, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Ms Collins said there was an increasing disrespect for the law from a small sector of the community "who think it's fine to take pot shots at our officers".
"The police represent the rule of law in New Zealand," she told Radio New Zealand.
"They are not simply the individuals, they represent something much bigger than that, and I think it's absolutely important that we, in upholding the rule of law, acknowledge that and give them their due respect."
The shooting has also reignited discussion around the arming of all police, and Police Association president Greg O'Connor said yesterday's shooting showed there needed to be renewed debate on the issue.
"We're lucky there hasn't been a death. We don't want to knee-jerk on the back of these events. But unfortunately, we need these events to get the debate going."
Armed officers had turned up within minutes to rescue Mr Snow, who had been fired on without warning from the dark.
The officer and a colleague were on a routine patrol when they saw a vehicle with its hazard lights on in a Papatoetoe driveway about 4.15am this morning.
The officers believed there was a possibility the vehicle was being interfered with, Superintendent Mike Bush of Counties Manukau police told a media conference this morning.
As they approached the vehicle, shots were fired from the darkness, hitting the constable in the leg and elbow.
The officer, who has been in the police for a year, lay injured where he had fallen as his colleague radioed for help.
"It wouldn't have made a scrap of difference" if he was armed, Ms Collins said.
Mr Snow is the seventh officer to be shot in 18 months and Mr O'Connor says violence towards police is no longer that unusual.
"Two of those [shootings] have been fatal. It is no longer a statistical blip - it is now clearly a major problem."
3 News / Radio LIVE