Today's "better work story": the police refused to hire a woman because she is Tūhoe
Before beginning her training at Police College in Wellington she was required to go on patrol with officers in Whakatane.
The local officer who wrote a report on her performance told her it wouldn't be a good one but wouldn't say why, or give her a copy of what he'd written.
Ms Tulloch then approached the college, where a recruitment officer told her one of the reasons she'd failed was because she is Tūhoe.
She said she was told she was too nice, she knew too many people, and was Tūhoe.
Which appears to be a prima facie case of unlawful discrimination on the basis of ethnic or national origin.
The police are denying it, but they would, wouldn't they? And their refusal to release the information to their victim makes it look like they have something to hide. As a government agency, and a law-enforcement agency, they have a duty to demonstrate that they are obeying the law. Failing to do that simply compounds their crime.
Finally, the police are supposedly trying to mend fences with Tūhoe after the 2007 Urewera raids. Refusing to hire members of that iwi seems to be a damn funny way to go about it.
