Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Tribe works on police links, post raids

Updated at 7:15 am on 26 July 2012

Waikato-Tainui says its relationship with the police has changed since the Bay of Plenty raids nearly five years ago, and the jailing of the Tuhoe Maori rights campaigner Tame Iti.

The iwi has already said it's not happy with Iti's two and a half year prison term for having firearms and molotov cocktails at camps near Ruatoki, and called his sentence 'over the top'.

The tribe says its relationship with the police has been tested, because Tame Iti's mother is from Waikato-Tainui.

But the chair of the iwi's executive Te Arataura Tom Roa says there's now a greater effort to improve and strengthen links with officers.

Mr Roa says the relationship with the police isn't frayed or in jeopardy, but the links with the police in the past have always been cautious.

He says kaumatua are today keeping good connections with the police, and the association is being strengthened.

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