Working to address crime
Police and iwi programme to support offenders
AMa¯ori-led initiative to address low-level offending without the need for prison time has officially launched in the Bay of Plenty. Te Pae Oranga is a police and iwi/ Ma¯ori initiative for dealing with crime and preventing reoffending. It began in 2013 but has expanded with Government funding.
The Bay of Plenty programme, Nga¯i Te Rangi Te Pae Oranga, has been operating since November but was officially launched at Waikari Marae in Matapihi yesterday.
The programme is designed for people with underlying issues who need help to get their lives back on track.
Police refer eligible offenders to those running the programme, in this case a partnership between Western Bay of Plenty Area Police and Nga¯i Te Rangi, run by local officers and Nga¯i Te Rangi Settlement Trust.
The offender meets with a panel of local community leaders who support them to create a plan to put things right. It may include support to quit drugs and alcohol, get a driver’s licence, job or training, reparation or hearing from and apologising to a victim.
Yesterday’s launch was attended by 20 police staff, including Police
Commissioner Andrew Coster, Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha and acting Bay of Plenty District Commander Tim Anderson.
Haumaha said reports about the over-representation of Ma¯ori in the criminal justice system for years had become a “broken record”.
“We are now in a position where we can come together. The things you can do as iwi and the things we can do as police join us together to support these people to find their way back home.
“That’s the beauty of why we’re here today.”
In his speech, Coster acknowledged the patron of the programme K¯ıngi Tuheitia (the Ma¯ori King) and those who had worked hard to make the launch happen such as Nga¯i Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley, trust chairman Charlie Tawhiao, and other kauma¯tua and facilitators.
“As a Ma¯ ori-led initiative to address
low-level offending, Te Pae Oranga is a great example of police and Ma¯ori working together for better outcomes for our communities”.
“Around Aotearoa, we have seen the difference that it can make to people’s lives when panels like this both hold people to account and also address the underlying issues to put things right and support them and their wha¯nau to make positive changes.”
Stanley paid tribute to Coster, who he said was the first police commissioner to visit the marae, and thanked him for all his hard work.
“Te Pae Oranga allows some of our young people an opportunity to be heard in the same way as we get to be heard by the police commissioner.
“Te Pae Oranga is, and we’ve seen it in the people we work with on dayto-day basis, a very powerful medium of making a difference in the worlds of a lot of our young people.”
Anderson said the initiative was an opportunity “to create a framework which helps to increase the wellbeing of everybody”.
“We know that when police and the community work together we get better outcomes.”
At the launch, police gifted a Pou o Te Oranga carving blessed by kauma¯ tua Bobby Rolleston to Nga¯ i Te Rangi.
Te Pae Oranga uses tikanga and kaupapa Ma¯ori and restorative justice practices and is available to all ethnicities. Victims are encouraged to take part.
As part of Budget 2021, the Government announced $70 million in new operating funding for the programme to expand to 30 panels in four years. Budget 2022 included an $8m investment to increase the capacity of Te Pae Oranga providers and police. By 2024/25 there will be 30 adult panels and 12 rangatahi panels.