Our Values
Our Values
This domain tests whether you can apply NZ Police's values to realistic dilemmas, not just recite them. The five values are integrity, respect, commitment to Māori and the Treaty, empathy, and valuing diversity.
The values in practice
- Integrity: be honest and ethical, even when no one is watching. Declare mistakes, follow lawful directions, do not cover up for a colleague.
- Respect: treat victims, offenders, colleagues and the public with dignity. Respect does not mean agreeing; it means behaving professionally.
- Commitment to Māori and the Treaty: understand the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori communities and the police obligation to work in partnership. This affects policing practice, engagement and trust.
- Empathy: recognise and respond to another person's feelings and situation, especially victims and vulnerable people. Empathy is not sympathy or over-identification; it is understanding that informs action.
- Valuing diversity: be inclusive across ethnicity, culture, religion, gender, sexuality, disability and background; challenge bias and discrimination.
Worked example
A colleague tells a racist joke in the station. A values-based response is not to laugh along for team harmony. Integrity requires you not to endorse it; respect and valuing diversity require you to challenge or report it appropriately; commitment to Māori and the Treaty is directly relevant if the joke targets Māori. The trap is choosing loyalty over the values - the values require loyalty to the organisation's standards.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating the values as slogans with no behavioural consequence.
- Thinking empathy means letting people off.
- Ignoring the Treaty commitment as political - it is a core police value.
- Assuming respect applies only to the public, not to colleagues or offenders.