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In this study, we compare the rates of New Zealand (NZ) and England and Wales (EW) police shootings from 1970 to 2020. Taking this long view lessens the stochastic effect of shootings over shorter time periods and reveals that the frequency of police shootings has increased in both jurisdictions over this period, despite police not being routinely armed with firearms. In EW, police shootings have increased from an average of 1.4 persons shot per annum for the decade ending 1980 to 4.3 per annum for the decade ending 2020. Similarly, NZ has seen an increase of 0.3 persons shot per annum (decade ending 1980) to 3.7 per annum (decade ending 2020). When comparing the rate of persons shot per million population in the past two decades, NZ has doubled the rate of shootings from 0.360 per million (2001–10) to 0.783 per million (2011–20). Such an increase has not occurred in EW as the number of persons shot has decreased from 0.080 per million (2001–10) to 0.074 per million (2011–20). We highlight the time-series trajectories with trend breakpoints at points of known policy implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study follows 4715 Family Harm cases for which charges are laid (from around 15,000 events from 2018–2020). Comparisons are made between cases where a digitally recorded victim video statement (VVS) is taken to those who (1) make a written statement, (2) refuse to make any statement and (3) present at the public counter and make a written statement. Findings indicate that VVS increases the rates of an early guilty plea by 95% (OR = 1.95, LCL = 1.34, UCL = 2.7) compared to those who decline a VVS and have a written statement. No difference is observed for those presenting to report an event at a public counter. A more modest effect is observed comparing those who refuse a statement altogether (OR = 1.28, LCL = 1.03, UCL = 1.60). A VVS is nearly twice as likely to lead to an early guilty plea. It is reasoned that there is a poor rate of guilty pleas for written statements, rather than an elevation in rates for VVS. Age and gender are unrelated to the elevated rate of pleading guilty to a VVS. Event seriousness is inversely related to pleading guilty, whereas having many prior convictions or being remanded increases the likelihood of the guilty plea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2009 and 2016, New Zealand Police experienced a disproportionate increase in lower-priority mental health-related calls. This exploratory study uses content analysis to identify characteristics of these calls, including reasons for calling police, advice and actions undertaken by communications centres staff, and actions undertaken by frontline officers. Four important findings emerge. First, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of mental health-related calls that did not involve reporting of an offence or emergency (increased from 48% in 2010 to 57% in 2016). Second, there was a significant increase in calls that were initiated by the person who appeared to be experiencing mental illness and distress during the time of the call (increased from 53% to 62%). Third, the way communication centres staff and frontline officers responded to mental health-related calls also changed over time. There was an increased tendency of communications centre staff advising the callers to call back if the situation escalates or if they require further assistance (which increased from 14% to 24%). Fourth, among the events attended by a police unit, there was an increase in the proportion of events where a frontline officer contacted a mental health agency (which increased from 6% of attended events to 10%). Moreover, transportation to a police station decreased (21.7% to 11%) while there were increases in the transportation of a person's home (2.7% to 6%). Transportation to a mental health facility averaged at 24.9% over the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A natural experiment is used to determine the effect of victim video statements (VVS) on the rate of early guilty pleas in cases of domestic violence. Participants were part of a trial conducted in 2017-2018 by New Zealand Police, in Counties Manukau District, South Auckland. Cases that met the eligibility criteria but did not result in a VVS formed the control group with written statements taken. Analyses were restricted to cases that proceeded to a court hearing (VVS group: n = 168, control group: n = 108). The key question was whether taking a VVS would increase the rate of early guilty pleas. A logistic regression model controlled two additional factors: (a) being bailed or remanded and (b) the seriousness of charges. VVS cases resulted in 44% early guilty pleas compared with 30% for those with written statements. VVS have a statistically significant increase in the odds of making a guilty plea, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =1.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [1.02, 3.06], when controlling for the other factors. The results indicate that VVS can be used to reduce demand pressure on the criminal justice system. The findings are considered in terms of the complex relationship between offenders and victims that commonly results in the retraction of written statements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally police agencies reported steady increases in mental health-related demand for service. This increase in demand has significant implications on the resourcing and training needs of both frontline and call centre staff. Mental disorders comprise a broad range of psychological conditions and therefore are difficult to define concisely. In police's operational environment, frontline and contact centre staff are often required to make decisions quickly based on the limited information they have; this practice is not unique to mental health-related events. The process of coding an event could be based on perception, prior contact with police, and/or other information available at the time. Due to the ambiguous definition of 'mental health' in the police context, it is important to understand the characteristics of events categorised as 'mental health' to enable adequate deployment and practice of police. To do this, this analysis examines the characteristics of mental health-related calls received by New Zealand Police between 2009 and 2016; these calls were assigned the code 'mental health' at event closure. The results indicated a 9% increase in this call type per year on average. The urgency of these calls for police attendance was approximated using two measures: (1) priority of calls at closure and (2) result code (i.e. follow-up actions). Both measures indicated a disproportional increase in lower-priority calls. This finding may suggest a general change in service demand and expectation of police's role in mental health, and have implications on police's service model and cross-agency collaboration to support people with mental disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of iwi community justice panels is assessed using data from seven years of implementation. Panel participants of 1013 are compared to a control group drawn from 73,000 offenders charged with similar offences and propensity-matched by age, gender, ethnicity, offending history and location. The dependent measure is re-harm from offending calculated using the NZ Crime Harm Index. Panel participants did not reduce their rate of offending compared to matched controls. However, there is a significant reduction in harm from post-panel offending, on average by 26.9 ± 21.05 equivalised prison days. The relative reduction is 22.25% of the harm committed by matched controls. Iwi panels are an effective alternative justice resolution. Panel participants are found to re-offend with minor offences and thus any focus on rates of offending would miss the complexity of the restorative justice process that reduces the harm of re-offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development of the New Zealand Crime Harm Index (NZ CHI), a measure of relative harm from crime which is designed to enable targeting of limited police resource for the greatest impact on harm and measurement of these impacts. The NZ CHI uses an alternative approach to existing Crime Harms Indices developed overseas, by estimating the minimum sentence for a first-time offender using actual sentencing data. The methodology used to develop the NZ CHI is described, along with results of its application to crime data, comparison with other approaches such as the Cambridge Crime Harm Index, and assessment of the NZ CHI against specified criteria. The NZ CHI method may be of use to other jurisdictions developing Crime Harm Indices, and provides benefits over sentencing guideline-based approaches in terms of the specificity of crime categories to which harm weights can be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]