The officer responsible for the overall planning and supervision of the January raid on Kim Dotcom's Coatesville mansion, north of Auckland, has justified the involvement of the elite Special Tactics Group (STG).
Detective Inspector Grant Wormald of the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand (OFCANZ) was cross-examined by Dotcom's lawyer Paul Davison at the High Court in Auckland on Thursday afternoon.
Det Insp Wormald told the court that the members of the STG "were the best people for the job".
The STG was able to ensure that the arrests were made quickly and that the evidence was secured safely and efficiently, Det Insp Wormald said.
He said a number of risks had been identified, including the possibility that there were firearms on the property, and it was felt that the involvement of the STG could overcome a lot of the problems police faced.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Davison labelled the police response to Dotcom's pregnant wife having contractions on the day of the raid "pathetic".
The officer in charge of the search Detective Sergeant Stephen Humphries told the court he was made aware that Mona Dotcom was pregnant and that there would be children on the property.
Police were asked to help when Mrs Dotcom started having contractions.
Mrs Dotcom didn't have access to her cellphone to call her doctor because it had been seized and no one could drive her there because all the vehicles on the property had been seized.
Police wouldn't provide her with transport and said they should call an ambulance.
Det Sgt Humphries disagreed that it was a poor response, because police are not trained or equipped to deal with medical emergencies.
The court hearing into the police raid on the Megaupload founder's home follows on from a ruling in late June that the search warrants used to carry out the raid were invalid.
This hearing will determine what should happen to some of the evidence seized.
Dotcom and his three co-accused, Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato and Bram Van der Kolk, face copyright, racketeering and money laundering charges in the US.
An extradition hearing is scheduled for March next year.
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