Police unhappy with low headroom in new patrol cars

Some police officers aren't happy with the lack of headroom in their new patrol cars which they say makes it more difficult to get offenders into the back seat. The Police Association says it's received reports of officers having a few problems with the headroom in the new Holden Commodore lift-backs, which will be the standard car that police use once the current Holden Commodore sedans are fazed out. The lack of space was brought to light by an anonymous constable in the association's latest newsletter, who refers to the new cars as "a bit snug" and says officers in south Auckland had trouble getting someone into the back seat. RNZ's Matthew Theunissen spoke to Police Association president Chris Cahill.The Police say they haven't received any complaints about the cars and aren't aware of any specific instances where there have been problems. However, following the piece in the Police Association newsletter they say they will be surveying frontline officers to get their take on the vehicles. The new Holdens started being rolled out in April this year with 157 in use so far. Ten new vehicles are being introduced every week.