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Police Association deny MP's racial profiling claims

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff ,
Publish Date
Sat, 9 Jun 2018, 7:00AM
Marama Davidson with Green Party co-leader James Shaw. (Photo: Michael Craig)
Marama Davidson with Green Party co-leader James Shaw. (Photo: Michael Craig)

Police Association deny MP's racial profiling claims

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff ,
Publish Date
Sat, 9 Jun 2018, 7:00AM

The Police Association is rejecting Marama Davidson's allegations of racial profiling and says any issues around unconscious bias are very different from how it is in the US.

The Green Party co-leader yesterday said our police are racially profiling and systemically discriminating against Maori and Pasifika people.

On Larry Williams Drive yesterday, Police Commissioner Mike Bush refuted the allegations, saying police do not racially discriminate but there is an unconscious bias.

Police Association President Chris Cahill says what's happening here is nothing like what people are seeing abroad, especially in America.

"The long term relationship between some of the black communities and police in America is nothing like the positive relationships police and Maori have in New Zealand."

One example Davidson used was her middle-aged brother - who is a professional and community leader - still gets pulled over for "random checks" by police.

But Cahill says it's unfair to call that profiling.

"Police stop thousands of vehicles a week. Most of those vehicles are stopped from behind and you don't even know who's driving them, and that's where you talk about perception versus reality."

However, human rights advocates say unconscious bias in police is just a nicer label for racism.

Human rights lawyer Michael Bott says it's just talk.

"It's kind of cosy to say that but there's an old saying that fine words don't butter parsnips. What it means is that saying nice things isn't going to alter the reality of the situation."

Bott says there's already evidence of it now.

"If you break down the ethnicity of people shot by police, a disproportionate number are in fact Maori."

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