Police gender gap over bullying

Analysts were concerned about significant gaps between the perceptions of male and female Wellington police.

An internal police survey has revealed significant concerns among the Wellington district's female police staff around the reporting of workplace bullying and harassment.

The findings also suggest many local female police fear reprisals from colleagues if they report inappropriate workplace behaviour.

The national survey asked 8863 police employees to rate their satisfaction with the organisation's vision and purpose, their engagement with the job, communication, their colleagues, and workplace respect and integrity.

A report on the findings highlights a widening gender gap and warns that bullying, harassment or discrimination could go unreported by female police.

More than a third of Wellington district female police staff don't believe workplace harassment and bullying will be dealt with effectively. The overall results were largely unchanged from the previous year and in line with the national average.

However, about 60 per cent of Wellington's female staff said they were confident concerns about workplace harassment, discrimination or bullying would be dealt with appropriately.

Only a slightly higher number felt they could raise these issues without fear of reprisal.

Analysts were concerned about significant gaps between the perceptions of male and female Wellington police.

"Females have responded significantly less favourably than males on all questions - they are much less confident in the processes in place to deal with any issues, and when issues occur they are much more likely to feel that the action taken has not been effective."

Across the survey, Wairarapa's results tended to be lower than the rest of the district. Less than 23 per cent of Wairarapa respondents said communication in their district was open and honest, compared with 41 per cent Wellington-wide.

Similarly, only a quarter of Wairarapa police felt the force cared about the wellbeing of staff, compared to 37 per cent in Wellington.

Wellington district commander Superintendent Sue Schwalger said the survey specifically targeted gender equality.

"We will continue to build the current support networks and are committed to closing any gaps identified by the recent survey."

Wairarapa area commander Inspector Brent Register said while survey results had slipped in some areas, there was "much to take heart from".

"While it's clear that we need to improve in some areas, focusing on one or two statistics in isolation does not reflect the whole picture."

Wairarapa police were launching an internal staff consultation process followed by a "progress-check" survey next month.

Nationally, the survey showed overall results had slipped compared to 2012.

It also revealed a widening gap between men and women in relation to the safe reporting and effective handling of inappropriate workplace conduct.

This year, 19 per cent of female police had experienced or witnessed inappropriate workplace conduct, compared to 14.7 per cent of males.

As women continued to feel less safe about reporting inappropriate conduct, there was a risk that bullying, harassment or discrimination would go formally unreported to the authorities, the report warned.

A Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct in 2007 followed Louise Nicholas' allegations that she was raped by police in Rotorua in the 1980s. The Office of the Auditor-General last year found a "lack of progress" in implementing the report's recommendations. APNZ