Few believe terror raids were an overreaction

Almost half the respondents to a recent survey about the nationwide anti-terror raids said it was too early to know whether police acted inappropriately or not.

While 13 per cent of those surveyed felt police acted inappropriately, almost fifty per cent said it was too early to know.

However the figures are dramatically different when the views of Maori are separated out from the survey sample, with 41 per cent saying police overreacted.

The survey of 750 people was conducted by UMR Research in the week beginning October 25. There were 82 Maori participants.

Thirty-six per cent of the wider group felt the police acted appropriately under the circumstances, while only 22 per cent of the smaller Maori group thought they did.

The survey also showed that more than half of the group (56 per cent) followed media coverage of the raids closely, although the Maori figure was higher, at 71 per cent.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 per cent for the total sample and plus or minus 10.8 per cent for the smaller Maori sample.

- NZPA