Wellington  - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key ruled out permanently arming the country's police force Monday despite the gunshot deaths of three officers in the last 12 months.

He told a news conference it was a legitimate debate following the fatal shooting of an officer in Napier last week, but said there were substantial risks in changing the force from being routinely unarmed while able to access weapons to deal with armed offenders.

"International evidence shows that in events where the police force is armed those weapons are often used against the police themselves," he said.

Secondly, because the weapons needed to be loaded at all times, police would treat every person coming up to them with a higher degree of caution "and that's likely to create a barrier between our police force and the New Zealand public."

Key said police chief Howard Broad told him that in at least two of the three officers' deaths, being armed would not have saved them.

He said the government favoured enabling more officers to carry disabling Tasers rather than guns. (doa)