Police seek greater Pacific presence

Samoans and young Pacific Islanders in New Zealand with a penchant for crime-fighting TV shows are being urged to consider becoming real-life detectives as police continue a push to increase diversity in their ranks.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs and Commissioner Mike Bush this week signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at recruiting more Pacific people into policing, and to senior ranks.

They hope it will help to reduce the disproportionately high number of Pacific Islanders coming before the courts. The partnership is also focused on education to reduce violence and alcohol harm, and promote road safety.

Pacific Islanders make up 7 per cent of the population but accounted for 10 per cent of convictions in 2013 and 11.7 per cent of the prison population in March this year.

There are currently about 490 Pacific police officers - or 5 per cent of the total.

Ministry chief executive Pauline Winter said promoting crime-fighting roles to school students could be one way to help.

“Young people who have been talking to us really like the CSI process. Some of the conversations we’ve been having with them include what sort of subjects they need to study to have that career in forensics.”

Detective Inspector George Fa’alogo, who has been a police officer for 30 years, said that, although detective work was not quite like the hit television crime show, it was a rewarding career.

“It’s painstaking work. It’s not as sexy as what you see on TV - but the thing with police is the camaraderie, the tenacity, being part of the team.

“It’s serving the public.”

He highlighted Pacific Island and Maori colleagues with successful police careers - such as Superintendent Sue Schwalger, who, like him, has Samoan heritage. She was the second woman to be appointed superintendent, and led the high-profile Scott Guy murder inquiry.

Fa’alogo said some of the sharpest detective work he had seen was by former colleague Kerry Parata. Weeks into the search for missing schoolgirl Karla Cardno, Parata was suspicious when she saw a man vacuuming his car in the rain.

The man was Paul Dally, who was later jailed for the rape and murder of the 13-year-old.

In recent years, there has been an active bid to increase the number of women officers, in response to Dame Margaret Bazley’s damning 2007 report, which found they were under-represented at senior levels and there was a culture of nepotism and discrimination.

Police set a series of five-year targets in response. There are so far 1700 women among a total of 12,000 police. Four have reached the rank of superintendent.

“Manu’s just the same. He stays with some old friends and they go outside playing touch rugby together. We were playing touch rugby together in our village at home”