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The Manager of the Police Maori and Pacific and Ethnic Services says attempts are being made to reduce Maori offending, but they don’t involve cooking the books.
Police in south Auckland are under-fire for misreporting of offences to lower crime statistics.
Wally Haumaha says that incident shouldn’t be confused with an effort under the Turning the Tide Strategy to take a more preventive approach and stop people entering the criminal justice system.
This involves the use of more pre-charge warnings for adult offenders, which can be used if the offence doesn’t involve family violence, class A drugs, or is liable for a prison sentence of more than six months.
"So there is some stringent criteria, so we are not sitting there tampering with statistics or anything of that nature, our focus is on preventing crime, our focus is on the rehabilitation of offenders, our focus is on less Maori, less young Maori people coming through the courts," Superintendant Haumaha says.
A programme to refer Maori drink drivers to Maori providers for rehabilitation is proving successful, with only two out of 90 offenders reoffending.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH SUPERINTENDENT WALLY HAUMAHA CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjAxNzU=
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