Māori Men More Likely to Be Stopped, Tasered, Prosecuted by Police Due to ‘Bias’ and ‘Structural Racism’

“Bias” and “structural racism” within the police are partly why Māori men are more likely to be stopped, prosecuted and tasered, a two-year investigation has found.

The report – Understanding Police Delivery – which has just been released – presents key results from the first phase of an inquiry into “equity and fairness” in policing.

It was announced by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster in March 2021 after RNZ revealed police officers in many regions were systematically stopping and photographing rangatahi Māori on the street for a national database.

One of its key findings was that physical appearance – including size, gender, age and ethnicity – often play a role in police officers’ “perception of aggressive behaviour” and their decision to use force.

The decision to use force could also be influenced by “time and resource constraints”.

“Results indicate that inequity exists in the policing system and operates at different levels: structural, institutional and interpersonal,” researchers said.

The police minister did not believe there was bias in the police, despite the report’s findings, and said officers do not get to choose who they deal with.

“I believe that we have a world class police service that do an outstanding job and don’t think there is systemic bias in the police at all,” Mark Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Māori are over-represented in the criminal justice system, but the blame should not be on police.

Labour leader – and former police minister – Chris Hipkins said he hoped the report will identify where police need to improve.

Hipkins said he had not seen the report before it was released, but a lot of work had been done to change internal police culture and look at the underpinning biases.

“I wanna be clear here, I’m not accusing any police of bias, but I’m saying that some of their models of policing previously were found to be bias and I know they’ve worked really hard to change that culture.”

Hipkins said police culture is an integral part of police safety.

The Green Party said findings of police bias were not a surprise. Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the contents of the report were disappointing but the problem was not new.

She was critical of the police minister’s denial of bias in the police force, saying the government was ignoring the evidence.

“I think it tracks with a body of evidence both domestically and internationally, when it comes to particularly the prosecution of people of colour but especially indigenous peoples across the world.”

Racial inequities

Of complaints assessed, which specifically referred to “racism”, 38 percent were from Māori followed by 22 percent from Asian complainants.

“Complaints regarding searches indicated that Māori felt unwarranted searches, in particular violated their tikanga (ways of doing things within cultural boundaries) of their home/personal space.”

Māori and Pacific people were disproportionally over-represented in “use of force events”, including those involving tasers.

Use of tasers

• One in five taser “events” in the six-month period was at a family harm event.
• Males were nearly 10 times more likely to be tasered (over 85 percent of all tactical operations/use of force reports involved a male).
• 92 percent of taser events involved men, and 90 percent of taser discharge events.
• “The threshold for threat is considerably lower than that for females.”
• “In some cases, men were tasered for non-compliance or to gain control over a situation when no physical threat or weapon was present.”

There were three “events” where youth were tasered.

All were Māori males, two were just 14-years-old.

Overall, the level of force described in the complaints tended to be more serious for Māori and Pacific peoples.

One Pasifika male described a violent interaction with a police officer: “Before I even got out of the area, three police officers grabbed me, smashed me into my partner’s car and knocked me so hard I felt I may have gone unconscious for a moment.”

However, the report also noted Māori youth were “far less likely to complain than any other group”.

Researchers said the over-representation of Māori in the criminal system could not be explained solely by “racism” on the part of individual police officers or even “structural racism”, but had its roots in the wider failure of society.

“Police operate within a much larger political eco-system that has consistently undermined the health and wellbeing of Māori communities, and as a result, Māori are more likely to be exposed to police intervention in their lives.”

Mental crisis callouts

People with communication difficulties – either due to poor English, mental illness or disability – could sometimes be seen by police as “non compliant”.

That could “influence threat perception and decision-making, and increase the likelihood of force being used”.

Report makes 40 recommendations

The independent analysis – which was led by long-term justice reform advocate Tā Kim Workman, along with academics, researchers and community leaders – includes seven separate reports (on praise and dissatisfaction, complaints, taser, prosecutions, and data) and makes 40 wide-ranging recommendations.

Current chairperson of the independent panel, professor Khylee Quince, said the recommendations included creating a “systems review” learning approach to shine light on good practice, innovation and positive outcomes.

“Ultimately, this is about meaningful system change through learning opportunities both in training and on the job. Our recommendations cover the gamut from police training, operations to service delivery.”

The Understanding Policing Delivery programme was first commissioned in 2020 as police jurisdictions around the world came under close public scrutiny following the George Floyd killing and the “Black Lives Matter” movement, and policing in New Zealand was being examined with the Waitangi Tribunal Justice System Inquiry and Abuse in Care Inquiry.

Quince said evidence confirmed that how police officers conducted themselves had an influence on public trust and confidence in the police – either to strengthen that trust or to weaken it.

“There is no special treatment for anyone. If policing is not delivered in a fair and equitable way to all citizens, no matter their ethnicity, disability, sexuality or other characteristics, it requires us to investigate the root causes and make recommendations for meaningful, systemic change.”

The study examined recruitment and training practices, data collection methods, and the contents of the police operations manual, focusing on how officers were prepared to enforce the law equitably and fairly.

The Police Association and the Police Officers Guild backed the approach.

Coster said he wanted to acknowledge all staff who took part in the research programme.

“I know that many welcomed the opportunity to show how hard our staff work every day to keep our communities safe, often putting their own safety at risk to do so.”

Community trust was fundamental to police’s ability to do the job, he said.

“Having that trust encourages more people to report crime, more to provide evidence, and more to support prevention. That’s especially important for those communities currently on the wrong end of most justice sector statistics, from victims to offenders, and from use of force to prosecution.”

The research highlighted areas where police systems could be better, he admitted.

Some had already been recognised by police and work was already underway to put many of the recommendations into practice.

“Too often this conversation has seen police and some communities talking past each other.

“With this research from the independent panel, I believe we have found, possibly for the first time, a way to talk about these issues together and to find ways to lift trust in the future. There is real strength in continuing with this joint approach.”

Phase Two recommendations are due for release later this year.