Police Perceptions of Maori - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

I believe Maori are already getting a lot of benefits from government but many
are abusing these benefits and spoiling it for others. I deal with a lot of Maori
offenders who don’t respect either culture unless it suits them at the time.
I think too much emphasis is placed on Maoridom and the treaty. It is
becoming an excuse amongst Maoris when dealing with them, all you hear is
'this is my land etc etc.'!
Maori are not the only disadvantaged humans in this small country.
I resent Maori making claims to ‘traditional rights’ such as fishing - no one
should own these. No one owned them before the Maori and they should be
managed now by the state.
I feel Maori get too much given to them without working for it. I have no
problems with tribal land being recognised but no money should be given to
Maori. Maori should not be given preferential treatment. In my opinion
Maori are more racist to New Zealanders than the other way around. Even
though Maori claim they occupied New Zealand first, they only make up less
than 15% of the population of New Zealand. Everyone should be treated as
equal. Maori are no more important than other ethnic groups.
Factors affecting attitudes
Being Maori has already been seen to be an important factor that affects the attitudes
of police officers. By using the AMPAS score it was possible to test for differences in
attitudes toward Maori political aspirations as a function of a number of other variables
including sex, age, length of service, rank, nature of duties, and the amount of contact
officers had with Maori in both working and private life. The results of these analyses
are set out in Table 13.
Table 13
Average AMPAS scores comparing police officers on a number of
demographic, service and contact variables
Mean N p 18
Ethnicity
NZ E 3.05 504
NZM only 2.25 50