WELLINGTON: New Zealand police on Tuesday scrapped plans for armed patrols prompted by last year's Christchurch mosque shootings, after criticism the change would lead to a US-style militarisation of the force.

Police in the South Pacific nation usually operate without firearms but trialled armed patrols after a lone gunman murdered 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch in March 2019.

At the time, police said the worst mass shooting in modern New Zealand history meant "our operating environment has changed" and they needed the ability to rapidly deploy armed officers to high-risk incidents. The move was met with unease among sections of the New Zealand public unused to seeing armed officers, particularly the Maori and Pacific communities.