Police Perceptions of Maori - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Summary and discussion
The seventy five percent response rate for this survey is satisfactory, especially when
compared with market research surveys and other recent surveys within the police
which, in the last few years, have rarely obtained response rates above 60%. The 737
respondents largely comprised those with at least 5 years service who were currently
or recently engaged in front line duties. The sample, although not representative of the
New Zealand population as a whole with respect to sex or ethnicity, appears to be
representative of the New Zealand Police ranked at senior sergeant or below in these
respects allowing for the booster sample of women. Only 8% of the sample identified
as Maori although another 6% identified as having some Maori ancestry and 18% were
women. The inclusion of an additional sample of women among the particpants is
unlikely to have affected the balance of responses. The booster sample of those at the
level of sergeant and senior sergeant may have resulted in slightly more favourable
responses on Maori issues.
In going about their work, police officers reported that, for the most part, Maori and
non Maori were treated similarly. A greater tendency to suspect Maori of an offence
was reported by about a third and nearly half reported that police officers generally
were more likely to query vehicle registration when a Maori was seen driving a ‘flash’
car. However, many respondents commented that policing behaviour was more related
to other factors such as context and attitudes than to ethnicity.
At least two thirds reported that they had heard colleagues using racist language about
suspects or offenders. Much of this was in private rather than face to face with
offenders and suspects. However, as some respondents commented, adverse effects
are likely to arise from the use of racist terms, either privately or publicly. The data
also suggest that, on average, almost one in four police officers have negative attitudes
to Maori. A similar proportion of police officers were seen as having negative
attitudes to Pacific Island and Asian peoples. On the whole, there may have been some
decrease in negativity toward Maori over recent years but most respondents thought it
had stayed the same.
The survey shows that discriminatory language and behaviour are part of the police
occupational culture. But this is not surprising given overseas research on police
cultures and the evidence of racist attitudes in the wider New Zealand society. In
terms of the amount and extent of discrimination, however, it is not possible to
compare the findings here directly with other studies of police overseas, with the views
of other occupational groups in New Zealand or with the rest of New Zealand as a
whole.
Questions can and should be asked about the accuracy of police self report as a method
of establishing what is actually occurring. It can be suggested that these results
underestimate discriminatory behaviour because many police officers will have
responded in ways that are consistent with presenting a good image of themselves and
their colleagues. Others with negative attitudes may have failed to respond. It would
indeed be surprising if, to some extent, these figures are not an underestimate of
negative behaviour and attitudes within the police. And there is undoubtedly a gap
between the overall presentation by the police of their own behaviour and that reported
in the studies of Maori views of the police reviewed earlier. There is no easy way of
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