By VANESSA BIDOIS Maori issues reporter
A disturbing report on police and Maori attitudes towards one another is sketchy on what is being done about the issue.
Challenging Perspectives is a summary of two research papers commissioned by police and Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry of Maori Development), but published last month with no fanfare.
A common theme of both papers was that police held strong anti-Maori attitudes.
Te Puni Kokiri took a hammering in May over mistakes made in the anecdotal evidence contained in a report on racism in Waitara.
Prime Minister Helen Clark's comments that poor police relations with Waitara Maori had played a role in the fatal shooting of Steven Wallace were based on the report and information from Maori MPs.
According to Challenging Perspectives, many hui as well as the research highlighted the need for changes in police recruitment and selection, training and education.
A project had recently been approved to plan how to address these issues, but the report gave no more details.
Other proposals included more focus on Maori values in policy and planning, but "issues about how this will best be done still need to be discussed."
It also said a documented strategy to improve police responsiveness to Maori continued to be a priority. Te Puni Kokiri would evaluate police performance in this area by the year end.
Strategies implemented so far included a cultural affairs office in the Police Commissioner's office and iwi liaison officers in most of the 12 police districts.
The report claimed police welcomed many responsiveness policies, but others required further debate "and there may be resistance to change."
"There is also some evidence of racism in the NZ Police, although a minority holds these views."
Details sketchy in Maori, police study
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