Police conduct: Criminologist says racist apologies from police are ‘worthless insults’ but Mark Mitchell denies bias in the force

Police make an arrest after another armed incident.

Leading Māori criminologist Emmy Rākete says the Crown has been acknowledging and apologising for the racism of its law enforcement agencies ever since Moana Jackson’s He Whaipaanga Hou report in 1987.

“These apologies are all worthless insults to the Māori people as long as the Crown never actually stops its racist violence.”

But Police Minister Mark Mitchell denies on-going bias towards Māori as police don’t get to choose who they are dealing 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,” Mitchell said.

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

Rākete and Mitchell’s comments were made after the Police released an independent research project yesterday which showed the disparities in how Police interact with Māori, other ethnic communities, and disabled people.

“This report shows what we have known for decades: the police are a racist, violent, occupying force in Māori communities,” Rākete said.

The initial data from the report found Māori were 11% more likely to be prosecuted than Pākehā, and 60% of proceedings involving Māori resulted in a prosecution compared to the national average of 56%.

University of Auckland criminology lecturer and People Against Prisons Aotearoa spokesperson Emmy Rākete

“This Government tells us that there is no money to build state housing, to run schools, to pay doctors, or do anything that could actually prevent the root causes of crime,” Rākete said.

“Then Luxon tells us there are billions of dollars to waste on tax cuts for landlords and an American-style megaprison in Waikeria. The rich get billions, and the poor get bullets.

“The cops are the armed enforcers of capitalist racism. Māori don’t need more reports into police racism: we need social and economic justice and the rangatiratanga promised to our ancestors.”