Editorial: Use of force on Māori suspects a grey area for law enforcement but body cameras would clear the picture

Police do not have the training needed to address and assess the mentally unstable.

EDITORIAL

Data showing police are more likely to use pain to subdue suspects should come as no shock to anyone - least of all Māori.

The public has the right to believe police officers do not routinely go out on patrol looking to use force on Māori and non-Maori suspects for that matter.

But the reality is the majority of people police deal with on a daily basis are Māori, so the 2602 times when direct and intentional use of minimum force was necessary to make the arrest should be looked at in the context of the tens of thousands of incidents police attend annually and the thousands of arrests made over that same time period.

Māori make up 17 per cent of the population and 51 per cent of the prison population, so the bigger questions are how do we address Māori offending and how do we break the intergenerational cycle of crime?

That is a question that has baffled consecutive governments and academics. And that is where the thinking should be targeted to.

Add to that dilemma is police have also become the defacto backstop for the mentally unwell.

That should raise red flags because police are trained to uphold law and order and to diffuse tense situations but do not necessarily always have the training needed to address and assess the mentally unstable.

One safeguard solution might be to equip police with body cameras. It’s always been a matter of when not if - and now might just be the right time. Body cameras would prove whether the use of pain to subdue suspects - Māori and non-Māori - was the right call and because the officer had no other options.

Police use discretion when they discharge tasers and firearms.

Having body cameras would protect those being arrested and those making the arrest. The Police Association is in favour because it sees this as a fairer option than a one-sided arrest filmed on a cell phone.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell has promised to give officers the tools to do their jobs. Body cameras might also be a way to protect their integrity.

That way, data would not be used as a statistical punchline.