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| NEWS > 08 February 2006 |
Other related articles:
Police chief plans no changes
With at least eight Shreveport police officers accused of crimes, Police Chief Henry L. Whitehorn says he plans no initiatives to address concerns about perceived corruption and apparent misconduct within his department.
Whitehorn, who was sworn in as chief last month, said the incidents, which include accusations of perjury and falsifying reports, involve a small number of officers who made "bad choices" and are in no way reflective of the overall integrity of his department or its 526 sworn officers.
An Aug. 1 memo sent to department personnel clearly outlines hi... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Stuff.co.nz - Wellington, New
08 February 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
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Police train to combat race ha
Race-hate crimes in New Zealand are on the rise and police are boosting recruit training to deal with the problem.
A new study by a Victoria University criminologist says hate crimes are increasing.
The research was prompted by high-profile hate incidents, including attacks on Jewish graves in Wellington and Muslims being posted pork and letters containing insults such as "burn the Koran".
Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, New Zealand police have boosted recruit training on identifying hate crimes.
The growing immigrant population has amplified the need for the training, and police say they have watched race-based riots in Sydney to avoid similar problems here.
Victoria University criminology master's degree student Jennifer Ross presented her study on how New Zealand police dealt with hate, or "bias" crimes, to a world criminology conference in Tasmania yesterday.
Ross told The Press that while anecdotal evidence pointed to a rise in hate crimes, police were adept at recognising and dealing with the sensitive and complicated issue.
"It's really encouraging," she said.
Ross said hate crimes included those against racial, religious or sexual groups.
New Zealanders tended to be more welcoming to different groups than many other nations, and, perhaps because of this, the level of race-hate crimes had not reached that of other countries.
Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said it was hard to judge the level of hate crimes in New Zealand as police did not keep such records.
"I'm not certain that there's an increase, but there's certainly an increased will on the part of the police and of the court to deal with this," de Bres said.
He said police had a critical role to play, and officers were working with ethnic communities on strategies to get a better understanding of cultural diversity.
"I don't think it's the only solution because there still are complaints about individual police handling of racial matters, but overall there's a very strong commitment from the police hierarchy to equip police to deal effectively with diverse communities and with hate crimes," de Bres said.
Ross said her study focused on Wellington but probably reflected the changing environment nationwide.
Estimates of hate crimes were based on anecdotal evidence from police officers interviewed for the study, she said.
Police Maori-Pacific ethnic services general manager Superintendent Pieri Munro said all new police recruits were now taught how to deal with the "complex issue" of hate crimes.
Police had steadily increased levels of training in response to the "post-9/11 vilification of some ethnic communities" and the range of cultures coming here.
It was likely New Zealand would experience race riots such as those in New South Wales late last year, Munro said.
"We can anticipate that (a situation such as race riots) with the growth in people coming here and becoming New Zealand citizens," he said.
"Over time, we might find they (people with strong and different cultural or religious beliefs) might not gel with our unique culture in New Zealand."
New Zealand police were part of the Australasian Police Multi-Cultural Bureau, where they could observe how their trans-Tasman counterparts dealt with race-related issues, Munro said.
Police planning and policy national manager Dave Trappitt said Ross's report was under review by the Police Commissioner's office.
A new system was being developed that would record details on whether crimes were motivated by hatred, but it would not be finished before 2008.
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