Police Perceptions of Maori - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

emphasising the importance of settling Waitangi Treaty claims, honouring Maori
language, respecting and preserving Maori customs and improving the social and
economic condition of the Maori people. There was more disagreement with such
items as giving Maori guardianship of native plants, restoring Maori fishing rights and
creating a separate justice system for Maori.
Collectively, these items gave a spread of opinion and met other statistical criteria that
enabled some of them to be used to derive a score for the respondents on a scale of
attitudes to Maori political aspirations. Scores on this scale were used to determine
factors affecting perceptions and attitudes. Maori officers, senior sergeants, older
officers, and those no longer in the front line were more likely to have favourable
attitudes than New Zealand European or Pakeha officers, constables, younger officers
and those in the front line. Increased contact with Maori in one's private life, either
through social activities or family membership, was also associated with more
favourable attitudes although work contact with Maori seemed irrelevant. Several
officers mentioned their experiences with marae programmes as increasing their
understanding of Maori issues. These findings suggest that, given the right type of
contact with Maori people, it is possible to increase understanding and promote
positive responses.
Finally, a number of questions explored responses to proposed policies and strategies
aimed at building responsiveness to Maori. Overall, respondents agreed with most of
the proposals or were at least neutral toward them. However, proposals to recruit and
promote Maori, to emphasise police commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi and to
provide Maori translation on request were disagreed with by a significant minority.
Comments indicated that issues of equity were at the heart of much of the
disagreement and suggest that affirmative action policies in recruitment and promotion
of Maori police will meet with considerable resistance. Increasing Maori
representation will be best achieved by ensuring that well educated Maori are recruited.
The views of police of Maori descent and those who identified as New Zealand
European or Pakeha were compared. In general, the two groups did not hold different
views on police attitudes, language or behaviour. But on specific aspects of behaviour,
officers of Maori descent were more likely to report discriminatory behaviour by police
officers in general, especially in responding to members of the public, stopping cars,
using abusive language with offenders and treating suspects roughly. Police of Maori
descent were also more likely to report that the police had negative attitudes to Maori.
One interpretation of this is that Maori officers were more likely than others to see the
actions of their colleagues as displaying negative attitudes and behaviour toward
Maori. Another interpretation is that Maori officers were more likely to describe real
differences in behaviour and this is supported by the fact that, on several of the
behavioural items, there were no differences in the perceptions of Maori and other
police officers. It is not possible to check either of these interpretations without
carrying out an observational study.
This report raises questions about the position of the Maori police officer within the
service and the extent to which he or she has a distinctive view. The data show that
often the views of Maori police officers are indistinguishable from those of other
police. Some of them clearly share the negative views and attitudes toward Maori
offenders that characterise some of their colleagues. Perhaps this is not surprising.
Other research demonstrates the power of the occupational culture in shaping the
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