Kiri Hunter Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Ngāti Maniapoto, Pākehā
PhD candidate
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
 

Purpose: Frontline police responses to Māori experiencing mental distress occur at the nexus of mental health, social, and criminal justice systems. In recognition of their accountabilities under the nation’s founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, NZ Police value being culturally and equitably responsive to Māori. However, social justice discourses endure as health disparities persist.

​

Approach: With a critical kaupapa Māori lens informed by intersectionality, this PhD study gathered whānau lived-experience narratives during marae-based hui using a novel support method called ‘ngā kōrero pūmanawa’. Police experience data were collected using ethnographic fieldwork techniques.

​

Results: Police played a key role in maintaining unwell, or otherwise mentally distressed whānau in the community, yet they also acted as agents of social exclusion and criminalisation. Despite the perception that they have considerable power, the reality was that frontline police often felt powerless to act on whānau best interests. With no training or mechanisms to advocate for broader hauora Māori needs, biomedically centred public health services were instead viewed as the triage service that should lead the mental health and cultural needs of whānau. Although police worked to counter existing stereotypes around bias and discrimination towards Māori, that mindset also meant that they treated everyone the same.

​

Conclusion: A cross-sector approach that recognises police’s place as a social service provider that protects the public, that considers the interactive effects of multiple minority status, and that promotes an equitable and holistic sociocultural model of Māori health is required.