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LINDSAY MITCHELL: Cultural indoctrination of the New Zealand Police

I asked my better half, "What is the job of the police?" Quite quickly he responded, "Ultimately, to protect the community." That's not bad. I had toyed with, "To enforce law and order," but on reflection, some laws are 'an ass' and regarding 'order' police actions during the parliamentary protest remain controversial. Why am I grappling with this?


Today police spend much - if not most - of their time policing 'family harm' - a euphemism for violence perpetrated against partners and children. Their own annual report says family harm call-outs are the fastest growing type of which there are already almost 500 a day - a 47 percent increase on 2017 we are told.


To assist in their work Police are provided with handouts titled 'Colonisation ... destabilising a culture' and 'Urbanisation ... destabilising a culture'. After absorbing the hand-outs, the question is posed, 'Given what you have just learnt about colonisation, do you believe Māori have their needs met in keeping with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?' One assumes the correct answer is 'no' (though it's kind of weird that an American psychologist's framework is used alongside the predictable and omnipresent call for tikanga values to dominate.)


Another diagram further explains how the historical trauma of colonisation worsens with each generation:


A couple of decades ago this type of material would have sat unremarked in a reading list for a BA in sociology. In fact, the source for the 'destabilising a culture' handouts is a PhD thesis written in 2001 by someone appearing European but citing their tribal credentials. Graduates and their 'learnings' have now firmly infiltrated public service agencies across the board.


But what is the takeaway for the police? That Maori perpetrators of family violence are themselves victims? That Maori perpetrators have no personal agency? How on earth can this belief be built into the practice of policing? It is clear how it has been built into the practice of administering justice - lenient sentencing with discounts for sympathetic cultural reports. Perhaps the same teaching discourages police from even delivering offenders for the proverbial wet bus ticket.


As usual I have more questions than answers not least of which is, given half of those convicted of family violence offences are NOT Maori, what's their excuse??


Never mind. I think New Zealanders are sick and tired of hearing excuses of any hue. We are compassionate people but increasingly reserving our sympathy for the real victims - the robbed, the raped, the murdered. Many though are getting particularly angry at being blamed by dint of ancestry for past colonial misdeeds that give present licence to thugs.


In respect of the police handouts about colonisation and urbanisation, it was Maori who enslaved Maori - not Europeans. No-one forced Maori into the cities. They went in search of jobs, money and excitement. And guess what? Most grabbed the opportunities, along with partners from other races, and became wealthier and happier. Just as their co-inhabitants and more recent immigrants were doing. My parents arrived in NZ in the sixties with meagre savings - no better off than newly urbanised Maori. But they found jobs and made their way. They weren't wallowing in the fact that their parents and grandparents had worked in coal mines or scavenged. But they both have memories of bitterly unhappy and arguing fathers and mothers the experience of which they resolved to never subject their own children to.


The police propaganda doesn't explain that most people learn from adversity. That it is beholden on them to do so.


The police propaganda examines family harm and delivers a faulty diagnosis: that Maori offenders have no free will. That their actions are determined by past circumstances beyond their control. We can but await the sixth, seventh and eighth generations of violent offenders.


I'm not buying it. Blame must be laid, in the first instance, at the feet of family violence perpetrators. The principles of personal agency and responsibility must be paramount. On what other basis can an effective policing system operate? No purpose is served by sending police into volatile and dangerous situations with heads full of guilt about their colonial past.


If that was a successful strategy then family harm incidents would be declining. Not the opposite.




Lindsay Mitchell blogs here

 
 
 

120 Comments


If we agree to have racist laws, maybe we should insist on exact definition of who is Maori and maybe we can find inspiration in Nuremberg laws (why not to immitate proverbial German love of perfection?): 1/8 Maori would not be Maori, 1/4Maori is of mixed race 2nd degree, 3/8 or 1/2 Maori is mixed race 1st degree, 3/4 Maori is Maori. Mixed race people will have special rules according to their devotion to Maori tikanga and marriage.


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Markmywords
Sep 14, 2023
Replying to

Nobody is stopping you

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Rusling Mcgehan
Rusling Mcgehan
Sep 10, 2023

While I still believe most people join the police force to create a safer place for all law abiding people, I firmly believe that once they take on the role they are forced to accept the political ideology which runs counter to their own personal expectations. Modern police have long been the politically correct clean up team for many years of allowing crimminal behaviour to not only be ignored but rewarded sympathetically.

There is no respect for the police from many people now, due to this PC crap we are seeing from the policing leadership. The cars are now being painted in rainbow stripes and post-its saying hello in 40 different languages how can you take this seriously.

They will…

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stephen.becket
Sep 09, 2023

The Noble Savage is a myth - A savage is a savage is a savage!


Tell people often and loud enough that they are victims, and they will willingly give up their personal responsibility and pride to believe it - especially if it comes with benefits to do so!


To break any cycle of behaviour there must be a willingness on the part of the perpetrator to do so - and that applies to alcoholism, drug addiction, theft or violence (family and otherwise).


There is only one solution to those with these habits. The realisation that actions have consequences and bad actions have bad consequences. That is, removal from society and reprogramming and rehabilitation!


How difficult is that?


PS. Are…

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debbie.russ96
Sep 18, 2023
Replying to

Time all this nonsense stopped

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janz
janz
Sep 09, 2023

I am sick to death of listening to the rubbish spouted about how much responsibility I must take for somebody else's F--- ups, simply because I am in the white ancestors category. It is so easy and convenient when a small group are given the privilege of being allowed and enabled to blame everything they do wrong on someone else.

Time to stand up, front up and own up.!!! Unless these people take control of their own lives and futures, put on their big people pants and stop all this " blame the coloniser "bullshit.......NOTHING WILL IMPROVE FOR THEM.

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debbie.russ96
Sep 18, 2023
Replying to

So very true.

Nobody held their mouth open and forced them to eat a huge amount of crap food like kfc, burger king or mcdonalds did they?


Its time they stand up and sort their own lives out like everyone else. Get off their butts find a job, eat healthy and take control of their own lives instead of relying on the already strained Hospital System.


We are all ment to be one people one New Zealand not a devided nation like it is now.


Perhaps if they got a job instead of relying on hand outs for this and that then New Zealand wouldnt be in so much debt?


I was always taught to hard for what you want…

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probbie
Sep 09, 2023

These people blaming Colonisation to the 5th generation are a screw loose,and police who buy into it are the same. Killed,imprisoned,enslaved. That was pre colonisation. At least among my ancestors.


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