“If there was one thing you'd change about how policing is done in New Zealand, what would that be, and why?”
By Elizabeth Youard, Year 12, Riccarton High School
We are fortunate in New Zealand to have a relatively safe country where the task of living is easy. A lot of this is due to our police force. They enforce the laws of our country as well as focusing on educating us on issues such as road safety. Press one button three times on your telephone, and the police are potentially minutes away. Unlike many countries, our police force is not corrupt and does not resemble a military institution with an aim of taking control of our government. But (and there is always a ‘but’) read the front page of a major newspaper, and you are sure to see a headline featuring “Police Sex Scandal”. Police in New Zealand usually do a good job, to put it simply, but they still get a bad name. If I were to change anything about our law enforcers, it would be this reputation.
One of the reasons people can view the Police so negatively is that the Police have lost their humanity. The days of a village constable are over, as most people now live in cities and hardly know their own neighbours, let alone their community constable. A police officer without a name is a person without feelings, a faceless superhuman. As such, we expect superhuman behaviour from our police force. The amusing quirks of a village constable, now only displayed in Enid Blyton stories, are no longer acceptable in our society. A police officer must not only obey the law perfectly, they must conform to the morals and values of every person in the country.
I think these expectations are entirely unreasonable. Our police have evolved alongside society, but too much. There is now no border between a personal life and a job. How can we expect normal people to be perfect, even if they are a high ranking officer? Obviously, they must obey to the same laws that we do but that doesn’t allow for the pleasure this country takes in featuring alleged historical rape incidents on the six o’clock news.
As a role model of our society, I think police can take the opportunity to put the community back into communities. Police already visit schools, but I believe they can be active in many other organizations and groups. Currently, police are not part of most people’s day to day life; they are a hidden presence. By getting out there, into the community they serve, police can perform a task no one else can. They can bring people together and promote a closer society. This will also give people a chance to thank the officers who devote their lives to helping others.
On a scale with the rest of the world, the New Zealand Police’s public image is fantastic for the simple reason that they are fantastic. But in our own country, we have extremely high standards and expect the Police to keep up with these. Part of this problem is that only negative news about the Police makes it into the papers, so people only hear of the problems of the Police force. The daily achievements of the Police force are never reported, but the occasional mishaps are turned from molehills into mountains, simply for entertainment purposes.
If I were to change anything about how police operate, I wouldn’t get rid of tasers or adjust other specific things. I am not a police officer so I do not have the experience to advise them on their job, something they would know the most about.
I would instead encourage the police to combat the negative news by creating positive news for people to hear. A great example of this are the columns in some local newspapers outlining what the police have done over the past week in the reader’s suburb. These allow residents to understand the role of the Police in their community.
Sometimes very simple things can convince a person that the Police force is doing a good job in our society, and sometimes that very simple thing is just getting to know your local constable.
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