Police say they're working to improve monitoring of hate crimes in New Zealand

Thursday, 13 February 2020

Police have revealed they are 'working actively' to better track crimes motivated by hatred, but details about how or when changes will take place remain unclear.

For years, there have been calls for better collection of data on hate crimes from the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, as well as the United National Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the United National Human Rights Council.

Now, police are 'working actively to create tracking (monitoring) resources that will allow [officers] to flag reported 'hate crimes' and/or incidents within [information technology systems] and to allow timely access to data for these types of offences/incidents', according to a statement sent to Stuff.

Following the fatal shooting of 51 worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch last year, questions were asked about what signs were missed, and how resources could be better allocated to protect minority groups.

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Unlike other countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, New Zealand doesn't keep a comprehensive record of hate crimes, largely because hate crime isn't a standalone offence.

After the March 15 terror attack, Justice Minister Andrew Little brought forward a review of hate speech legislation.

Rather, what is commonly referred to as a hate crime in New Zealand is an offence that has been motivated by hostility, by one person or group targeting another person or group on the basis of a 'common characteristic' such as race, colour, nationality, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability.

Hostility is considered an 'aggravating factor' and under the Sentencing Act 2002, must be taken into account as such during sentencing.

Police must also take the aggravating factor into consideration when investigating and determining the appropriate course of action. Officers are able to note in information systems when they believe a crime is motivated by hostility, however the data is incomplete and unreliable.

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In the wake of last year's terror attack, Justice Minister Andrew Little brought forward a review of hate speech legislation. Last month, he was presented with potential options but isn't ready to comment on them, his office said.

Regardless, proposed reforms will not cover offences referred to or understood as hate crime offences, police said.

It's unclear when or how the Government intends to implement any changes to the collection of and access to hate crime data.

Little's office said hate crime monitoring is a police matter. Police Minister Stuart Nash didn't respond to requests for comment. Police said they had nothing further to add.

The Human Rights Commission collects 'race-related complaints' but said it has an incomplete picture of the problem.

'We have advocated for many years for improved data collection about hate-motivated crimes,' a spokeswoman said. 'If the police are making changes in this area we would be very interested to hear about them.'

In June, 2019, the organisation published a snapshot of the kinds of hate crimes that have been committed in recent years.

The report said: 'The absence of systematically collected data and information on racially and religiously motivated crime in New Zealand makes it very difficult to have an informed discussion about their prevalence and design effective measures to counter them.'

The University of Canterbury's dean of law, Professor Ursula Cheer, stressed the importance of resourcing detection and prosecution of crime, including hate crimes. Police and secret services should be properly resourced to carry out their pre-emptive and protective roles in relation to ordinary crime and terrorism under existing provisions, she said.

'Police should receive robust training as to the use of discretion to prosecute offences, in particular in relation to young or vulnerable people.'