1. What is this research programme about?
UPD is a research programme looking at who Police stop, how we engage, and how we make decisions around use of force and charging.
The research is looking at whether Police policies, procedures, practices, structural design, legislation, or training produce worse outcomes for some people, and communities, than others.
Ultimately UPD is about the policing system, not about individual Police staff.
The research is being conducted with Police and with Māori and communities to ensure it benefits from the experience and insights of public facing staff alongside evidence from those with lived experience.
This includes an Operational Advisory Group of close to 30 frontline officers from all districts who are advising the researchers and the Independent Panel managing the research.
2. Why are you doing this research?
When public confidence and trust in the Police is high, it enables us to be effective. Members of the public are more likely to come forward with quality intelligence, more likely to report crime, and more likely to be open to engaging constructively with Police. This is why effective policing requires the support of all communities.
If Police have the trust and confidence of Māori and communities, we will be more effective in the work we need to do for communities.
To earn trust and confidence Police needs a system that treats everyone fairly and equitably. Fairly means everyone can expect impartial and just treatment from Police without preference or discrimination. Equitably means recognising that each person and whānau has different circumstances and that policies, procedures and interactions need to respond to these circumstances to ensure positive outcomes.
We are more effective when these relationships are strong, victims are put first and the public believe police actions are completed professionally and fairly for everyone. To achieve this we need sound evidence on how policing is delivered in New Zealand.
3. Why do some communities trust Police less?
Police rely on the broad support of communities in order to do their job – to be able to effectively investigate and prevent crime and keep people safe.
Frontline police deal not only with what is in front of them, but also the impacts of any previous negative interactions that people and communities have had with Police or other parts of government. This affects interactions with victims, offenders and witnesses.
Over the years, surveys of trust and confidence in the Police have shown that some communities, including Māori and Pacific communities, as well as disabled people, rainbow communities and some other ethnic groups, have lower confidence in the Police than non-Māori.1
In order to uphold the Police values and work for all communities, we need to better understand why and how this happens, and what will make the difference.
1 Source: 2022 New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey
4. Why do you need to do research, why can’t you just fix things now?
The purpose of UPD is to understand whether or where there are inequities in Police policies, procedures, practices, structural design, legislation, or training. We need to understand whether these systems produce worse outcomes for some people, and communities, than others.
Milestone reporting of the research programme will give Police actionable insights so we can make incremental changes to Police’s operational settings.
There will be suggestions made as a result of the research about whether or how those systems might be improved through changes to our operational settings.
5. When can we expect to start seeing results?
Researchers will be producing interim reports and recommendations as they go. We expect the first of these during 2024.
We are taking care to make sure that the research will give us actionable insights that will enable us to make incremental changes to Police’s operational settings if any biases are identified – without needing to wait years for the results.
6. How is this model different from past research projects?
While Police is funding the research, the procurement of the work and the management of the research programme is being led by the independent UPD panel.
The research is being conducted with Police staff, Māori and communities to ensure it benefits from the experience and insights of public facing staff alongside evidence from those with lived experience.
We believe this model of Police being considered as part of a community is a unique model internationally.
Milestone reporting of the research programme will give Police actionable insights so we can make incremental changes to Police’s operational settings.
There will be suggestions made as a result of the research about whether or how those systems might be improved in an operationalisable way.
7. How does this build on other work Police has been doing to improve outcomes for Māori?
Police is committed to ensuring all people are treated fairly by Police regardless of who they are, or what background they come from. As a Crown Agency we are committed to upholding the Treaty of Waitangi – this is a core part of our values.
We are committed to acknowledging and learning from past injustices and mistakes, so that today we can provide the best possible service for Māori.
In the past six years we have established 12 dedicated Māori Responsiveness Managers at Inspector level rank, to strengthen the work of Police Iwi Liaison Officers.
In 2019 Police launched Te Huringa o Te Tai – Police’s refreshed Māori strategy, which works to strengthen Police’s relationship with tangata whenua. Te Huringa o Te Tai is designed to help Police realise the vision of all Māori living full and prosperous lives, free from crime, victimisation, and road trauma. It is focused around three (Pou) pillars that aim to strengthen Police’s ongoing relationship with tangata whenua.
We have created a dedicated Deputy Chief Executive Iwi and Communities position, to ensure a Māori viewpoint is present and heard as part of every Police Executive discussion and decision.
Te Pae Oranga – Community Justice Panels – are open to all New Zealanders, but because they are founded on Māori restorative justice approaches have been shown to be particularly effective at reducing reoffending amongst young Māori.
We have also encouraged recruitment within Māori and other communities and designed high profile recruitment campaigns specifically to attract Māori so we can ensure police reflect the full diversity of the communities they serve.
The focus is on working with partners, community leaders and iwi so we can better understand what Māori are experiencing when they engage with Police in order to create positive change and equitable outcomes.