Black lawyer: Customs harassed me

By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK

Complaints that Customs twice stopped a black passenger at Auckland Airport because of his race will be investigated.

The Race Relations Office said yesterday that it would look into a claim of discrimination by the 49-year-old Jamaican-born Auckland lawyer, who believes he was singled out because of his colour.

Colin Henry, who was granted New Zealand residency in 1995, said he was deeply offended by the questioning. He said he had heard of other non-Europeans being stopped.

But Customs says it uses a range of factors in drawing up "profiles" of passengers to question, including ethnicity.

Mr Henry was pulled aside in May and again this month after trips to the United States as treats for surviving major cancer surgery.

The first time, he says, he was singled out for attention while a crowd of mainly European passengers went unquestioned.

In the latest incident, he said, an officer "made a straight line" for him, questioning him about his Customs declaration and his reasons for being in the country.

"When I asked him if I fitted a profile because of the colour of skin, he said yes, based on the information they were getting from overseas. He was very sheepish.

"It was all I could do to conduct myself in a lawful manner after that because I was so annoyed. It has certainly tainted my view of New Zealand."

When Mr Henry expressed his annoyance, a police officer threatened to arrest him.

Mr Henry says that when he pointed out that no one else had been questioned, the police officer told him that if he did not like conditions in New Zealand, he did not have to come.

Mr Henry, who said he was dressed in tidy jeans and a shirt on both occasions, said he felt "deeply offended" by the approaches, which he believes were related to his skin colour.

Labelling the incidents an "intolerable and insidious development," he said he had heard of other incidents from "persons of colour" who claimed they or their relatives had been singled out for "unique targeting by customs officers on arrival at the Auckland Airport."

Auckland Airport manager Paul Campbell would not comment on Mr Henry's complaints, but he confirmed that customs staff questioned travellers based on profiles, which sometimes included ethnicity.

But skin colour and race were not good enough reasons for an officer to approach travellers.

"The issue around the approach of passengers is far more complex ... though with some risk profiles, ethnicity is more of an issue than with others because there are particular groups that are involved in certain activities," Mr Campbell said.

Other factors taken into consideration included an aircraft's origin, passenger behaviour and how long the passenger intended to stay in New Zealand.

Mr Campbell said profiles were based on "intelligence" received from customs administrations around the world, featuring things such as crime statistics, criminal behaviour and successful intercept rates of drugs and arms. He would not release detailed information about specific profiles because of security issues.

The Race Relations Conciliator, Dr Rajen Prasad, said customs profiling was a concern because it could be a form of stereotyping.

"What's the difference between that and seeing a Maori person on the street and frisking them? I would rather they [Customs] had sophisticated tools to identify people who present risks and accept that they can come from any group."

Dr Prasad said customs staff had to ensure all passengers were treated with dignity so they did not feel there were issues of discrimination.