The One Policeman Policy
Jul. 23rd, 2016 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birguslatroWhile trying to find out when New Zealand introduced unarmed police, I discovered there was once something called the One Policeman Policy.
In the wake of the New Zealand Wars, a Maori non-violent resistance movement over confiscated land developed in the 1870s, centered at Parihaka on the west coast of the North Island. This was slowly put down using the then Armed Constabulary, with hundreds imprisoned.
It was following this, in 1886, that this One Policeman Policy was introduced. (By a new 'Minister of Native Affairs', John_Ballance, who would later become Premier.) The One Policeman Policy appears to have been just that, with one policeman, unarmed, being stationed where before there would've been a group of the Armed Constabulary. So this was the start of NZ's unarmed police force.
A report of an 1886 speech by Ballance can be found here... Scroll down to "The Native Policy of Government" to see mention of the One Policeman Policy.
In the wake of the New Zealand Wars, a Maori non-violent resistance movement over confiscated land developed in the 1870s, centered at Parihaka on the west coast of the North Island. This was slowly put down using the then Armed Constabulary, with hundreds imprisoned.
It was following this, in 1886, that this One Policeman Policy was introduced. (By a new 'Minister of Native Affairs', John_Ballance, who would later become Premier.) The One Policeman Policy appears to have been just that, with one policeman, unarmed, being stationed where before there would've been a group of the Armed Constabulary. So this was the start of NZ's unarmed police force.
A report of an 1886 speech by Ballance can be found here... Scroll down to "The Native Policy of Government" to see mention of the One Policeman Policy.