‘Targeting Ma¯ ori’
COUNCIL OPERATING DEFICIT NOW ALMOST $6.6 MILLION The police firearm figures worrying leaders
Police pulled their guns on people nearly 120 times in two years in the Bay of Plenty with two-thirds of all incidents involving Ma¯ori. Ten children, one as young as 13, had firearms presented to them over the same timeframe.
A political party co-leader claims New Zealand police refuse “to acknowledge systemic racism” while an iwi chief executive says the data “scares” him.
One of the district’s top cops says there has “definitely” been an increase in the willingness of people to use firearms against police and others but that work had started to improve outcomes for Ma¯ori and reduce victimisation.
The data, released under the Official Information Act, showed between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, there were 114 firearm presentations and two discharges.
The data was drawn from Police Tactical Options Reports (TORS) and there can be multiple TOR events relating to the same incident. For example, if two officers pull their guns on the same person during the same incident, that would be two TOR events. Seventy-seven of the 114 presentations involved Ma¯ori with the next highest ethnicity, European, at 27. There were also six incidents involving Pacific peoples, three Asian and one other/unknown.
The data was drawn from Police Tactical Options Reports which do not include Armed Offender Squad or Special Tactics Group firearm presentations. Tactical options are defined as the reportable use of force by one officer against one individual.
Te Pa¯ti Ma¯ori (the Ma¯ori Party) justice spokesman and co-leader Rawiri Waititi asked at what point did unconscious bias become conscious bias. “This trend will only continue to
get worse until the police admit they have an issue with systemic racism instead of continuing to try and address unconscious bias.
“They are the only ministry that refuses to acknowledge systemic racism. They have been running programmes to address unconscious bias for years.”
Waititi said, in his opinion, police had profiled and targeted tangata whenua for as long as they had existed.
He said the problem was police were given “an incredible” amount of freedom to make decisions at their discretion.
Waititi did not believe police officers should be armed because in his view they were “actively targeting Ma¯ori”.
Nga¯i Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley was in favour of arming police — a view he believed few iwi leaders shared — because it was a dangerous and challenging job but the data raised questions.
“I would need to feel comfortable that the police tactical decisions are not predicated on race but the data infer this and infers it locally,” Stanley said.
“I know a lot of cops. They are hardworking, bloody good Kiwis. There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said.
“I don’t want to be all emotional about [the data] but it does not look good.”
Stanley said the data was “very sobering”, that it “scares” him and that it needed to be unpacked and explained as to why it was happening.
“Take into account all of the racist assumptions that are made on it — they are exactly that, just assumptions — and the data does not look good.
“This isn’t a fair and wholesome manner, it’s not an emotional matter but it needs to be unpacked and told why it’s happening.”
Bay of Plenty police acting district commander Inspector Clifford Paxton said Ma¯ori were overrepresented in the criminal justice system as both offenders and victims.
“Sadly, this is also reflected in the Tactical Options reporting each year,” he said. “We know that crime is a symptom of social deprivation.
“Through close working partnerships with iwi and local service providers, police are committed to improving outcomes for Ma¯ ori and reducing victimisation, offending, road fatalities, and injuries.”
Ideally, officers would never need to resort to tactical options but it was the reality when people were at risk, Paxton said.
“Bay of Plenty Police, like other districts in New Zealand, is definitely seeing an increase in the willingness of people to use firearms towards others and towards police. “This is absolutely a concern and we need to ensure our people are equipped to respond safely in this environment.”
He said the policing
environment “is changing” and they were seeing more people, including younger people, willing to use force against them.
When an officer chose to use force in defence of the public or themselves, their decision was based on their assessment of the threat, the exposure to harm, the necessity to act and the best response considering all