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