Police seek recruits to help build bridges with ethnic communities

Police want to attract more culturally diverse officers and build stronger links with ethnic communities, says a strategy paper released last night.

The Police Ethnic Strategy highlights the fact that only 1 per cent of the force is Asian, although the nationwide Asian population is projected to increase to 13 per cent by 2021, up from 6.4 per cent in 2001.

Superintendent Steve Shortland said the Auckland region had two Chinese and four Indian officers.

A further 13 recruits from different ethnic backgrounds were training at the police college and 80 potential officers were in pre-recruitment training, he said.

Mr Shortland said police districts were working with international students and liaison officers were having regular air time on ethnic radio stations.

The strategy paper said the police wanted to develop a force that reflected the community.

That included promoting cultural awareness in the training of existing staff and finding ways to attract new officers from a range of backgrounds.

The strategy said police would adopt a "customised approach" to recruitment but did not go into detail.

Police would also establish working relationships with communities, organisations and community representatives to reduce crime and road trauma.

Mr Shortland said the initiatives would take time, energy and patience.

"We want to act now to open lines of communication to find lasting ways to reduce crime and crashes.

"The strategy revolves around ... developing the skills of existing staff, recruiting more staff from ethnic communities and opening lines of communication."

John Wong, community representative of ethnic peoples, said the strategy encouraged and empowered people to help themselves and contribute to a wider community.

"It encourages ethnic communities to report crimes of many types, to report victimisation," said Mr Wong.