Police Perceptions of Maori - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Police attitudes and behaviour in general
Police responses to differences in ethnicity
When asked 'Do police officers generally respond the same way to offenders who
belong to different ethnic groups?', 72% said that they did. A minority of 19% said
that responses were sometimes different. Some comments indicated that officers were
responsive to cultural difference in a constructive way:
Each ethnic group requires a different way of speaking to or with a person.
Language and cultural considerations are important. You wouldn't treat a
Maori the same way as an Asian, as a European as a Pacific Islander.
At other times, the differences were seen as stereotyping or discriminating against
Maori and also sometimes other Polynesians:
Many long serving Caucasian police officers have little time for juvenile
Maoris, or Polynesians, they talk down to them.
Police are racist and have no tolerance for lower class ethnic groups. They
don't think they deserve to be treated like upper class offenders.
The darker races are all treated as second class citizens. The assumption of
guilt is worse for Maori.
Some police officers speak to them differently - slower, pidgin English,
arrogantly and use abusive language.
There seems to be a stereotyped attitude. If one Maori offends then all are
considered to be judged that way -'typical Maori' or 'what are they claiming
now?'.
Ethnic groups are considered 'acting suspicious' if seen in same situation as
'non ethnic persons'.
Some of this stereotyping comes from the fact that a lot of the offenders dealt with by
police are Maori and this experience is generalised to all Maori:
Because Maori are seen as the bulk of offenders and perhaps the hardest to
handle police officers tend to treat them firmer.
Because police deal with large numbers of Maori offenders, they tend to
stereotype all Maori as gang members and drunks prone to domestic violence.
Other commentators gave explanations for different attitudes and behaviour that
emphasise the interconnection of race, class and power:
All are treated badly if they are seen as ‘white trash' or 'Maori scum' or 'dumb
islander' but they are treated differently if the police officer knows they are
connected to a 'respectable' person in the community or are likely to complain
about their treatment.
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