The New Zealand Police is a very significant contributor to the Government’s objective of improving public safety. As such, the Government is vitally concerned that the New Zealand Police has management and administrative structures that support, rather than inhibit, the delivery of quality policing services.

In 1996, the Minister of Police commissioned an independent review of arms control arrangements in New Zealand. The independent review was borne out of recommendations made by the Police Complaints Authority following two separate police shootings in September and November of 1995.