Few Feel Armed Police Arrests Were An Over-Reaction

Only 13% of New Zealanders think armed Police over-reacted and acted inappropriately given the circumstances when they arrested political activists including Tame Iti recently, the latest UMR poll shows.

The research also showed Maori were far more likely to say Police over-reacted with 41% saying that they did compared to only 10% of those who did not identify themselves as Maori in the survey.

Over one-third of people (36%) said Police acted appropriately under the circumstances and almost half (48%) said it was too early to tell whether Police over-reacted or acted appropriately.

The survey asked respondents to think about the recent arrests by armed Police of political activities including Tame Iti and to identify which of the following was closest to their view:

The Police have over-reacted and acted inappropriately given the circumstances; The Police have acted appropriately under the circumstances; It is too early to tell whether the Police over-reacted or acted appropriately.

The survey also showed that most New Zealanders (56%) followed this story in the news closely though Maori followed the story more closely (71%).

The telephone poll was conducted between 25-31 October of a nationally representative sample of New Zealanders aged 18 years and over. It has a margin of error of +3.6% for the total sample and +10.8% for the Maori sub-sample.

Opinions of the Police arrests

A plurality (48%) chose “It is too early to tell whether the Police over-reacted or acted appropriately”, but only 13% chose “The Police have over-reacted and acted inappropriately given the circumstances”, and 36% chose “The Police have acted appropriately under the circumstances.”

OPINIONS OF THE POLICE ARRESTS OF POLITICAL ACTIVISTS

Thinking about the recent arrests by armed Police of political activists including Tame Iti which of the following is closest to your view?
Lt OCT 07 %
The Police have over-reacted and acted inappropriately given the circumstances 13
The Police have acted appropriately under the circumstances 36
It is too early to tell whether the Police over-reacted or acted appropriately 48
Unsure 3
TOTAL 100
Base: All, n=750
Media profile

Most respondents (56%) followed the news stories about the Police arrests closely (1+2).

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