A South Auckland woman has won a NZ$12,000 scholarship funded by the New Zealand Police to pursue doctoral studies looking into Pacific youth offending in New Zealand.
University of Auckland graduate Julia Ioane was announced as the recipient of the Constable Pita Fuafiva Snr Police Pacific Scholarship in a ceremony held the NZ Police Auckland District headquarters on 15 May. Speaking to SPASIFIKmag.com, the 33 year-old Samoan, who hails from Leauva’a and Fasito’o-uta, says her choice of study was motivated by the lack of data on why Pacific peoples featured highly in overall youth offending statistics.
“There’s always a lot of negative hype where I was born and grew up in Otara. I went to McAuley High School. I still live there,” she says.
“There is a lot of youth offending, but on the other side there are lot of youth there that do really well, who do have similar demographic backgrounds that had the parents who worked during the day and hardly had time at home.
“I just want to know what is it that made one Pacific youth succeed as opposed to another who doesn’t, but grows up under the same circumstances.”
Ioane is keen to find out if there is a link between Pacific youth offending and generational changes in the local communities. She says that while there has been a lot of qualitative data on Pacific youth offenders, and youth in general, there’s been no quantitative data.
“What I want to know is if there is a problem, what is it? Then hopefully we can target our interventions more effectively, with a more Pacific model,” she remarks.
“We pulled the national data from last year and there was around 124 (Pacific youth offenders), so I’ll start doing it nationally and be able to see if there is a pattern in certain demographic areas.”
Ioane graduated eight years ago with a Bachelor of Science. From there she completed a post graduate diploma and honours papers. She did her dissertation last year with the Police Criminal unit, while working part-time at the Police call centre.
She hopes her research will help New Zealand Police address the growing youth violence, particularly in urban areas with heavy Pacific populations.
The Constable Pita Fuafiva Snr Police Pacific Scholarship was established in 2003 to support Pacific students from a wide range of faculties in undertaking doctoral research on topics relating to any aspect of crime or policing.
The scholarship is arranged in partnership with the University of Auckland, who are involved in the selection process. The scholarship is named after the late police officer of Samoan descent who was well respected in the Auckland City District Police and Pacific community. He died in a rugby accident in 2001.
According to Senior Sergeant, Siaosi Fanamanu, who is the Auckland District Police Pacific Peoples Responsiveness Manager, the scholarship was an initiative borne out of discussions between the Auckland City District Police and the Pacific Advisory Board it consults with.
“In recent years, we established the advisory board and built up closer relations with the Pacific community,” he tells SPASIFIKmag.com. “Since then we’ve seen through our initiatives a reduction in street robberies, kids drinking at parks, and general assaults in our area.”
Fanamanu says the Police have adjusted their focus in addressing growing problems in the Pacific community such as youth violence.
“We are no longer going out there and saying we’re the Police and this is how you do it. We’re now asking the community how can you help us, rather than be an exception, be part of the norm.”
Fanamanu says the recruitment drive for more Pacific police officers initiated in partnership with Auckland’s UNITEC four years ago, has also helped changed the tide.
“So far 80 of our current staff have come through the programme since it started so that’s a pretty good hit rate,” he shares. The 14 week UNITEC course funded by police helps potential Maori or Pacific candidates get ready to sit the exam to enter the force.
“Police have seen the gap in the market so to speak for more Pacific island officers. It’s the academic work that usually trips them up not the physical so the programme helps them in that respect.
Born in Tonga, where he hails from Havelu and Ha’apai, the 45 year-old Fanamanu has been in the Police force for over 20 years. He spent most of that time based in south Auckland before transferring to his current post in Auckland city.
