A shift in the police force

Sunday Star Times

It's been a year since New Zealand Police made diversity a top priority in its strategic plan. Sarah Lockwood discovers many initiatives, and finds that although there is room for improvement, some savvy marketing may have put the police on track to achieving a more diverse force.

It is 7.45am on a Friday and Mary Lambert is on a clogged motorway heading from her home on Auckland's North Shore to Greenlane. She is nervous, in a hurry, and has just received a text: "Where are you?!" Everyone else is there already. And the test doesn't start till 9am.

When Lambert, a 27-year-old Maori, arrives, the others in her group are all wearing the same T-shirt as her. Designed by one of the group's relatives, it has a koru pattern representing each group member and a Pacific design symbolising the various islands they hark from. On the front it says "Unity" and the back reads, "As part of a team together we are one". All 16 are about to sit the police college entrance exam. Three months earlier, these people were strangers in a classroom at Unitec's Mt Albert campus. "Everyone was so quiet and nervous," says Lambert. "We changed the seating around and moved the desks together. They probably wanted us to feel more comfortable and less like little kids."

Having survived the pre-selection process, they had been accepted into a "bridging" course run by Unitec in association with New Zealand Police aimed at upskilling Maori and Pacific Islanders in maths and English. The first course was in 2004, and survived for two years before being canned. But this year it was revamped.

Strategic recruitment manager Inspector Gary Allcock says that in the past year, police have taken more ownership of the course. This year there has been one course each semester, with 18 people in each. Of the first 18, 11 passed the police college entrance exam and were accepted into training Lambert was one of these.

The Unitec course is one of many police initiatives in the past year to encourage more diverse recruits. Another is the $1.6 million spent on recruitment advertising. Lambert says the billboards got her thinking about joining the force. "I remember being surprised at how much advertising there was."

Senior Sergeant Glenn McKay, the Maori responsiveness adviser for Auckland City, has significant involvement in the 14-week course and says the family vibe was deliberately fostered by the course leaders. "I think the cultural approach makes a huge difference. In the last course we tried to create a real team and family environment for them to work in."

Lambert, who has worked in a shearing gang, a call centre and in hospitality, said that kept her motivated. She says the students were encouraged to read in their own time, and if they came across a word they didn't know, they found the meaning to broaden their vocabulary.

"If we had homework problems ... we'd text each other and see who could figure it out the quickest.

"It was a team effort we all had our weaknesses and strengths but we all helped each other."

According to the 2006 Census, Auckland is the most ethnically diverse region in New Zealand, so it makes sense that pilot programmes such as the Unitec course begin there. Allcock says the police want to replicate that model around the country.

In July last year, the Police Strategic Plan identified diversity within its ranks as a top priority, and named four target groups Maori and Pacific Islanders, Asians, women, and young people aged 18-20. According to the 2006/07 police annual report, there are 8113 sworn officers in the force. Of those, 1358 are women and 52 are under 20. Officers do not have to disclose their ethnicity and around 10% do not. Of those who do, 838 are Maori, 311 are Pacific Islanders and 105 are Asian.

Allcock says the diversity targets are based on the changing demographic of New Zealand. "The police have to be representative of the community. We can't all be European, male, middle-class officers."

He says that although the number of Maori and Pacific Island sworn officers is growing, it could be better. By 2009, the police want 10-15% of new sworn recruits to be Pacific Islanders, compared to the 7% who graduated from police college last year. They also want 20-23% to be Maori, a substantial increase from last year's 13%.

So why are they not getting the number of Maori and Pacific Islanders they would like? McKay thinks there is still some distrust of police in the Maori community due to unfair treatment in the past.

"A lot of it comes from the police having a colonial responsibility. Some of that hasn't always sat well inside Maori tikanga and kawa [traditions]. I'd suggest many Maori don't see the police as a career choice."

But the police are working hard to change that. Targeted marketing introduced in the past year includes brochures aimed at Maori, a roadshow incorporating a strong Maori flavour and advertising on iwi radio stations and Radio Waatea. Marketing material is tailored to entice Pasifika people too. The police target Pacific Islanders through specific ethnic newspapers, churches, face-to-face interaction and on Pasifika radio stations, in Samoan and English.

"I've seen a huge change in marketing," McKay says. "Before, we never really used the radio medium. We didn't do any advertising with specific language stations."

Appointing a physical education officer who leads training sessions three times a week is another way the police have reached out to the community. It provides motivation for those who want to sit the entrance exam, but need to get fit first. "The idea is you get like-minded people together who have a common goal to get into the police," Allcock says.

"I've got people in the force who lost 42kg. I've got people who couldn't swim a stroke. I've got a 48-year-old mother of four who couldn't do one press-up and did 25 to pass her exam. Don't tell me it can't be done."

But Allcock says women are still a challenge. "I think there's a general perception that it's dangerous and we need to change that. The women who are in the job love it why more don't join, I don't know."

The police have launched a series of women's seminars in Counties Manukau, with West Auckland, Waitemata and Auckland City to follow.

"It might give us some idea of where we need to target our marketing, and make women stop and think about whether the police could be a career for them," Allcock says.

The police will have one more female officer when Lambert finishes her training. Having made it through the Unitec course and the entrance exam, she is one of three women, in a class of 13, who started their police college training on September 24 in Porirua. "It's exciting. It's been a long time coming," she says.

Lambert finishes her training on February 7, and is looking forward to being back in the same city as her partner, who is in the navy. She will be stationed in the Waitakere district.

Police have had the most success recruiting Asians, the second-largest and fastest-growing ethnic group in Auckland. Whereas 19% of the Auckland region's population is Asian, only 5% of the city's police force is. But more Asians are keen to make policing a career.

"What struck us is the passion these people have to join the police," Allcock says.

Asian liaison officer for Auckland City Jessica Phuang says promotion of the job has raised a lot of interest in the Asian community.

"A lot of Asians see the police as a reputable job in New Zealand, and the other thing is they really want to help and support their own community."

A Unitec course aims to help Asians and others with English as a second language. Phuang says although most are highly academically qualified, they need help with their English. "Sometimes it's the way they speak the way they phrase things especially.

"What I really appreciate is the police are looking into the different methods to support these candidates to be successful, especially with a cultural approach."

She says that because the initiatives are new, there will be a better picture of their impact next year.

Allcock agrees. "I think we've certainly made some improvements this year, and we'll look forward to reviewing the figures at the end of this year and refining our strategies."

Other initiatives are needed to draw young people into the police.

"It takes a special kind of person to be a police officer, so at 17 or 18 you might not have a clear understanding of where you want to go. We need to get into the schools at an earlier age and break down those barriers."

One plan is to run focus groups in schools to find out what young people think of the police as a career. This year an academy at Onehunga High in Auckland provided pre-training for the services and gave students in their final year a chance to see what the police, or other services, might hold for them. From a class of 20, five are in the police recruiting process.

These measures helped Lambert to realise a long-held ambition to join the police. "I would have made it eventually, because I'm the kind of person that likes to achieve my goals, but it helped me get there a lot sooner."