Promoting the police: A thematic analysis of the New Zealand Police recruitment campaigns and the construction of officers’ identities
| Author | Angelique Nairn,Ruby Roebuck |
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/26338076221085310 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Promoting the police: A
thematic analysis
of the New Zealand Police
recruitment campaigns and
the construction of officers’
identities
Angelique Nairn and Ruby Roebuck
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland City, New Zealand
Abstract
Prior to 2021, the New Zealand (NZ) Police had consistently struggled to meet the required
target of recruiting new police officers. As a strategy to promote the NZ Police and to sub-
sequently increase the number of officers within the force, a series of recruitment campaigns
were broadcasted. Despite appearing to frame the career of a NZ Police officer posi-
tively, research has suggested that there is a lack of diversity within the police force with
women and ethnic minorities consistently underrepresented, and inequitable working condi-
tions, therefore leading the job to be perceived as unattractive to most. However, after the
release of the ‘Breaking News’recruitment campaign together with television advertisements
and targeted websites outlining information on the recruitment process, the NZ Police suc-
cessfully met their target with applications exceeding 600 per month. The aim of this
research was, therefore, to explore how the identities of NZ Police officers were concep-
tualised and constructed in the recruitment messaging. A specific focus was how the content
in the videos might entice people into considering a role in the force considering the gov-
ernment wanted to increase police numbers by 1800 by 2021. Thematic analysis was applied
to 2 NZ Police recruitment videos, 15 ‘career path’videos, and 10 ‘bring yourself’videos
that is accessed through https://www.chatcops.co.nz/. Four key themes were identified which
emphasised that the NZ Police are comprised of a diverse group of people, committed to
helping the community, prioritising safety and that they are ‘normal people’despite their
instilled authority.
Corresponding author:
Angelique Nairn, Auckland University of Technology, 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland City 1010, New Zealand.
Email: angelique.nairn@aut.ac.nz
Article
Journal of Criminology
2022, Vol. 55(2) 221–238
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/26338076221085310
journals.sagepub.com/home/anj
Keywords
Police recruitment, identity construction, diversity
Date received: 1 December 2021; accepted: 14 February 2022
Introduction
Over the years, research into the New Zealand (NZ) Police force has uncovered that there is an
under-representation of women and ethnic minorities (Chan, 2013; Jaeger & Vitalis, 2005).
Furthermore, those wanting to join the police have been discouraged because of the overt influ-
ence of cultural preferences, mental illness, and well-being concerns on the likelihood of
recruitment and retention (Huddleston et al., 2007; Stephens et al., 1997). Detracting people
from pursuing police jobs around the globe are the trappings of modern society including ter-
rorist attacks, public backlash, and increased violence, to name a few, making the profession
one of the most prominent when it comes to measures of stress, burnout, anxiety, and in
some cases, suicide (Grant et al., 2019; Queirós et al., 2020). Police officers often complain
that organisational stressors such as job pressure, lack of support, over time, department pol-
itics, work–home divides (Can et al., 2018; Purba & Demou, 2019), and regularly being
exposed to trauma (Biggs et al., 2021; Velazquez & Hernandez, 2019), can produce disidenti-
fication, negative coping strategies (Parkes et al., 2021), compassion fatigue (Papazoglou &
Chopko, 2017), and can lead to a desire to leave the police force. It is no surprise, then, that
NZ had consistently seen shortages in frontline police staff for much of the 21st century,
which led to a government aim to increase the number of police officers (Nash, 2019).
When it was first established in 1840, the police service of NZ mimicked the British con-
stabularies and was comprised of both police and militia. In the 19th century, the system
was shaped to abide by the principle of policing by consent, and the police collaborated
with other partners, including government agencies and cultural groups, to ensure that the
14,000 personnel can work towards ‘enforcing criminal laws, enhancing public safety, and
maintaining order’(New Zealand Police, 2020, p. 7). Under the Policing Act 2008, the NZ
Police are expected to uphold eight functions, namely ‘keeping the peace; maintaining
public safety, law enforcement, crime prevention; community support and reassurance;
national security; and participation in policing activities outside of NZ emergency manage-
ment’(p. 6). The NZ Police have a strong reputation and amongst the population, between
56% and 78% trust in the institution (Daniels-Shpall, 2019). Yet, the NZ Police has been
subject to systematic reviews in recent decades where it was found that there were several pro-
blems including a macho culture that disadvantaged female police officers, issues in manage-
ment, policy, and processes, instances of inappropriate behaviour, and a lack of diversity in
recruitment (Macaulay & Rowe, 2020). Accordingly, The NZ Police have sought new
approaches to inspire organisational cultural change including narrative techniques, the
co-creation of police values (Macaulay & Rowe, 2020) that has seen the emergence of
Professionalism, Respect, commitment to Ma
̄ori and the Treaty, Empathy, and valuing
Diversity (PRIMED) (Rowe & Macaulay, 2017) and targeted recruitment campaigns.
Amongst the attempts to attract people to the force was the ‘Breaking News’recruitment
campaign. Alongside television advertisements, the NZ Police set up multiple websites with
information on the recruitment process and ‘chats’with cops currently employed by the NZ
police. They also released a virtual reality event that ‘can help you understand what it’s like
222 Journal of Criminology 55(2)
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