Police mull law for hate crimes

Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before a select committee at Parliament this morning....
Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before a select committee at Parliament this morning. Photo: NZ Herald
New Zealanders who make racist attacks could soon be charged with committing a hate crime, the Police Commissioner has revealed.

Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed this morning that police were investigating whether a specific category of hate crime should be created in New Zealand.

It comes after an incident in Huntly on the weekend in which a Muslim woman was racially abused.

Mr Bush said this morning there were anecdotal reports that such offences were on the rise, though it would difficult to measure because police did keep records of this type of offending.

It was unclear whether the crimes were occurring more often or whether they were receiving more coverage, Mr Bush said.

Nor was it possible to know whether the anecdotal reports related to racist, homophobic or other attacks.

But police were now discussing with the Human Rights Commission whether a specific hate crime offence should be written into the law.

"We have crime categories at the moment ... that do apply, but we are just working through the pros and cons of whether or not it would be the right thing."

In the Huntly case, the attacker Megan Sarah Louise Walton was charged with behaving in an insulting manner that was likely to cause violence. She was also charged with two acccounts of assault after abusing Muslim woman Mehpara Khan outside a public toilet near State Highway 1 on Saturday.

Mr Bush said police were looking at whether it was appropriate to have "a more relevant and specific piece of legislation" to cover similar offending.

His department was not yet ready to make a recommendation to the Government.

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