About 50 officers have been hurt while laying out road spikes since 2018. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Police have backtracked on replacing their old road spikes - which have injured dozens of officers - despite testing new, safer spikes.
But because so few tests on the new remote-control spikes were ran, there was not enough evidence for police to go ahead and buy them.
About 50 officers have been injured placing road spikes since 2018. Some have been hit by vehicles, while others hurt their hands laying them out manually, which could be avoided with remote-control spikes.
An internal safety group told headquarters it must reduce the risks, and police said last year they would buy new ones.
But a new report shows they ran just six tests on the remote-control spikes up to August - too few to be of any real use.
"While our staff have reported clear safety benefits of the new devices, we cannot corroborate these reports with statistical evidence," the police annual review said.
Police have instead reversed away from the plan, telling RNZ this week they would keep the old spikes.
"The health and safety risks for tyre deflation devices have been mitigated, and the actions have been completed," they said.
"Solutions have been implemented to increase staff safety by increasing the length of rope attached to the tyre deflation devices and updating training for staff."
Police Association president Chris Cahill said he was not convinced.
"We weren't aware that they weren't proceeding with purchasing a new set and giving up on it altogether," said Cahill.
"I'm really surprised."
The association had called for years for new spikes. It had dragged on for so long it had become a running joke, he said.
He had no idea what if any training had been done, and "we haven't seen the evidence that the change has materially made a difference".
A better option was new technology, which must be an option given the world-wide use of spikes, Cahill told RNZ.
Spike questions
The annual review showed police finished testing the remote-control spikes in August, comparing them against their old Stinger manual spikes.
"The results of this evaluation do suggest that the RC TDDs that police have procured are effective in the field, although, conclusions as to whether they are better than Stingers cannot be drawn on the limited data we have."
While there was "clearly an appetite by staff to keep using" them, there was "not sufficient evidence to recommend a large-scale investment".
RNZ has asked police why a test that was so limited that it proved nothing conclusively was ran.
Cahill said he had been told police bought about 20 new sets of spikes, which were expensive and turned out to break too often.
The review showed they spent $1.2m of a $1.6m spike budget. It did not mention breakages.
The old spikes had 12m ropes fitted to them.
"Officers have limited protection for hand injuries," said the review.
Injuries ranged from minor pricks from touching an unprotected spike, through to being struck by a fleeing vehicle.
The force's own health and safety governance group had "recommended that these elements of risk be mitigated at the earliest opportunity".
By the time the group made this call, police had already been pledging for months to replace the old spikes.
"Police is currently undertaking a programme of work to procure new remotely deployable tyre deflation devices, which will replace our existing stocks of road spikes," they said in a January 2023 OIA response.
"The aim of this programme is to improve officer safety by ensuring that our officers do not need to be as close to the roadside as they currently do in order to deploy the device successfully."
In August 2024, the project was "delayed to accommodate an effective collection of evidence and insights to inform policy".
This had eventuated in the decision to modify the old spikes, and do training.
"How many people have been trained?" asked Cahill, and how much of that was in-person and not just online, he added.
"I would think that sticking with these ones is not a long-term solution."
Armour problems
A second safety problem - defects in officers' tactical armour - was also revealed in the annual review.
This forced the armed offenders squads to end a $4.8m rollout of tactical armour and improvement programme - they spent just $2.2m.
The review said the rollout was "delayed", due to an "external issue regarding supplier and product defects".
The problems were resolved, and new equipment was on order to be rolled out early next year, police told RNZ this week.
"In the interim, we have conducted functional testing on our current equipment, which is confirmed to be 'fit for purpose'.
"There is no impact on staff or public safety and all AOS staff continue be fully equipped with 'fit for purpose' armour."
General police armour was rolled out from 2019-22 under a $20m deal.
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