Sir Kim Workman hopeful of solving police bias - 'I don’t want to die and not have this stuff worked out'

It comes as police face accusations of unfair treatment towards Māori.

A police officer turned criminal justice advocate is hopeful of finding a solution to the systemic bias within the force.

Sir Kim Workman will work alongside Waikato University’s Te Puna Haumaru NZ Institute for Security and Crime Science on a research programme into making sure police do their job without bias.

He told 1 NEWS that he joined the police in 1958, but quit after the crackdown on illegal overstayers from the Pacific in the 70s.

Sir Kim said the practise was bias then and there are still improvements in the force that need to be made.

“What the Commissioner (Andrew Coster) has said is we’re going to face it, we’re going to investigate our practises and procedures.

Sir Kim Workman.

“If we identify bias we will have to then workout how to reduce it. He’s the first chief executive to do so in my view and I want to be part of it,” said Sir Kim.

Independent research was conducted into the criminal justice system between 1998 and 2002, but came to an almost complete halt because “agencies refused requests to do research from external researchers".

Sir Kim describes the move as “socially constructed silence where there was a culture of denial in the political arena and elsewhere.”

He said for a long time Māori have been more likely to be arrested, imprisoned, and less likely to have a defence lawyer.

“Individuals have got racist ideas and that’s understandable in a way because that’s present within New Zealand society. Within a workforce of 12000 people there will people with those sorts of views.

“I’m getting older and you know I don’t want to die and not have this stuff worked out,” said Sir Kim.

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