Letter To The Editor - Police Acting In A Racist Manner?

Letter To The Editor - Police Acting In A Racist Manner?

This footage from TV3 shows armed police pulling over Maori youth, pointing rifles at them and harrassing them as if it is a routine occurrance. Why? Because one of them is wearing a shirt the same colour as someone seen earlier, 'possibly' bearing a firearm. Apparently, he 'fits the description.' The link to the show is here, start watching from 16 minutes 50 seconds in:

How do we know the footage is racist? A car full of white people would never be treated in the way these Maori boys are. Overseas this would be called racial profiling and if filmed and made public, it would make the news.

What else is wrong with the footage? It describes the stop as 'routine', which is how police later find some cannibis. Pulling a car load of youth over at gunpoint and harrassing them out of their cars is not routine - maybe unless you are in a brown suburb.

What should the police have done? You would expect the police to apologise and let them go - the footage suggests the police follow up the 'siege' with a 'random' search and suggest to the guy in the red that he was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'. No apology, no regrets, nothing.

What messages does the show promote? "What could have been an explosive situation worked well for everyone involved"

The case does not work out well for this bunch of Maori youth as they were harassed from their car at the threat of gunfire, simply because they were Maori.

The expolsive situation was 100% created by the police and the youth are innocent victims.

It's TV3 footage, not the police's. The police are actively involved in the production of these crime programmes, allowing cameras to follow them. The police should be embarrassed that this scene was even filmed - they are complicit with it making national TV. This is an embarrassment for all poice. Serving up racism as entertainment is offensive.

This is no isolated case and is evidence to support Peter Sharples recent claims.

Papa Tuanuku.

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