NZ building comprehensive firearm information system

Wellington, June 7 (IANS) New Zealand is currently building a new comprehensive information system that will record incidents and detail every firearm the police encounter in their communities, police said on Friday.

"While we are in the very early stages, with three months' worth of information collected from across the country, we are building the picture we need," Deputy Commissioner Michael Clement said in a statement.

New Zealand Police makes gun control the top priority after a gunman stormed two Christchurch mosques and killed at least 51 people in the country's deadliest terrorist attacks on March 15, reports Xinhua news agency.

The programme was rolled out nationwide gradually from December last year, with every district being on board by March 2019, which have resulted in 693 firearms seized by the police.

"This is about safety; the safety of our police officers and the people in our communities. We want to know more about the misuse of firearms in our communities," Clement said.

The new process sees officers alert district command centres when they encounter and seize a firearm, when they are attending an incident where a firearm has or is suspected of having been misused, or when one is presented at them, he said.

The difference is it brings all this information together in one place: firearm details, information on the type of event around the firearms misuse, the location it occurred, more of the narrative from the officers involved, Clement said.

"It's about giving us richer information in a consistent way, in a central location. This enables us to have a broader understanding of the event and the surrounding circumstances," he added.