Māori leaders are alarmed that armed police squads set up to tackle serious crime will also deal with low-level offending.
They say it was overkill that armed officers in Hamilton stopped a car and arrested a man on dishonesty charges at the weekend.
But police are defending the move and say the man had been known to carry firearms in the past.
RNZ Māori news correspondent Leigh-Marama McLachlan reports.
