Former police commissioner Howard Broad says he regrets police did not make it clear the Urewera raids were not about targeting the people of Tuhoe.
Tuhoe are seeking an apology from police for the October 2007 raids, in which armed officers swept through the Ruatoki community.
Current Commissioner Peter Marshall said last week he was sorry innocent people were "frightened and inconvenienced" by the raids but police would not apologise ahead of an Independent Police Conduct Authority report on the incident.
Mr Broad, who retired from the force last year, said an apology was a matter for the current police commissioner.
However, he told Radio New Zealand today he would speak with representatives from Tuhoe if asked, if it helped repair relations between iwi and police.
While he stood by the decision to prosecute the Urewera Four, he did have one regret.
"I think the biggest regret would be that we failed to make the distinction between the group that we were seeking to police and the people of Tuhoe. The overlap is not as great as perhaps the people in the public space might appreciate, having listened to the public commentary about it over the last few years."
18 people were originally charged under the Terrorism Suppression Act following the raids but only four - Tame Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, Urs Signer, and Emily Bailey - were convicted, and of lesser firearms charges.
"One of the things you do when you're a police officer for a considerable period of time is understand the workings of the criminal justice system. You can't go at the start of it and say that you've got absolute certainty about what the result is going to be. There are always, in every case, challenges to admissibility,'' Mr Broad said.
"And so you place your faith in the criminal justice system working, in this case it's worked."
