Police Perceptions of Maori - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Results
Description of sample
Women made up 18% of those replying and men made up 82%. This corresponds to
the proportion of men and women selected to take part in the research. Half the
sample were ranked as constables. Fuller detail of the rank and gender of those
responding is given in Table 1. It shows that numbers are adequate to enable
comparisons of men and women and the more senior and more junior police officers.
It also shows that, despite the attempts to increase the sample of women at senior
levels, more of the women than the men in the sample are constables reflecting the
relatively small proportion of women in the more senior positions.
Table 1 Rank and gender of those responding; percentages 4
Men % Women % Total %
N=599 N=127 N=726
Constable 52 69 55
Senior constable 4 1 3
Detective 9 6 8
Sergeant or detective sergeant 17 22 18
Senior sergeant or detective senior sergeant 19 3 16
Over 77% of the sample had spent at least 5 years in the service. Twenty four percent
were under the age of thirty and 6% were fifty years or over. All but 6% had School
Certificate in one or more subjects and 71% had at least Sixth Form Certificate. In
addition, 50% reported having post school qualifications that included all or part of a
technical qualification, a diploma or a degree.
Eighty percent of the sample were currently engaged in front line duties that brought
them into daily contact with offenders and 96% of the sample had been engaged in
front line duties during the past five years.
Respondents were asked about their own ethnic background using the same question
asked in the New Zealand census in 1996. Their replies and comparable data from the
census and data from the 1995 New Zealand Police census are reported in Table 2.
4 11 people did not report their rank or gender.
9