There will always be a bias against Māori in the Police, a former officer says.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush revealed today one of the things he's proud of is the reduction in police officers' bias against Māori.
Speaking to Kerre McIvor this morning, he explained fighting discretionary bias is one of the pillars he's trying to teach new recruits.
Hurimoana Dennis is a former police officer who was charged with kidnapping after staging a mock arrest of a teenager. He was ultimately cleared by a jury.
He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it is a big statement for the Commissioner to make. He says that a bigger issue that has been lacking for a long time is common sense, which bias and discretion fall under.
“They can't [use common sense]. They’ve got processes now almost telling officers when they can use their discretion to put people before restorative justice or other areas. I'm saying officers potentially no longer have the discretion to use common sense based on what they see, feel and are dealing with."
Dennis says that he was trying to use common sense in the case he was tried for, in which he and a fellow officer locked a young man in a prison cell and threatened him unless he ended his relationship with his then 15-year-old girlfriend.
The incidents occurred as the teens' families argued over the underage relationship, and after the boy's mother had filed a formal complaint with police about her son.
Police decided not to charge the teen, before Dennis, a family friend, organised a "mock arrest" on May 5, 2015, to scare the boy off the relationship, the Crown alleged.
He says that the kid would have ended up in jail had they not intervened.
"The bigger picture in terms of me and my discretion was I had all the available information in front of me."
Dennis says that he thinks Police are too fearful to use their common sense.
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