OPINION: I began life in New Zealand, absolutely terrified of the police.

Thanks to the Dawn Raids in the 1970s when the Immigration Department used police in a pre-dawn tactic of looking for Pasifika people who had overstayed their visitors permits, we came to see the police as bad guys, the muscle of the state who enforced racist government policies.

There was also the occasional harassment as a kid, which seemed to increase once I got older and learned to drive.

The very first day I proudly drove my first car I'd just bought as a teen, I was pulled over and the officer searched it for drugs.

It was a crappy old Valiant to be fair, but still, I'm sure that was illegal. In the 1980s though, it didn't pay to argue with police.

Getting pulled over for DWB (driving while brown) continued into my adult years.

One time in Wellington, a cop pulled me over, and after the usual questions about who was the registered owner of the car, then asked me if I knew about recent burglaries in the area.

Over time, as the powers that be realised New Zealand wasn't going to get any less brown, police seemingly worked hard to be less racist, and more culturally representative.

In 2015, Commissioner Mike Bush admitted there was a bias among police against Māori and that they needed to work hard to address the issue.

In 2017, the head of AUT's School of Law Khylee Quince told Maori Television's Native Affairs that despite police recognising unconscious bias, there had been no reduction in the number of Māori being arrested. "No, absolutely not. There's been zero impact."

I don't know what the figures have been in the two years since that statement but it's clear that fears of unconscious bias towards Māori by police, haven't gone away.

On Monday, police will begin a six-month trial in which special armed response teams will be on patrol in three of the country's police districts.

Commissioner Mike Bush said that since March, there had been 1350 reported firearm offences with police being shot at eight times.

However, opponents have been vocal about fears of what this trial could lead to. A community rally against the trial has been organised next weekend in South Auckland – one of the three districts chosen for the trial.

Auckland councillor for the Manukau ward, Efeso Collins told Stuff: "Of all the people shot by police in the last 10 years, two thirds were Māori or Pacific.

"The disproportionate use of firing on these communities is indicative of implicit bias – the very bias that the Police Commissioner has publicly recognised."

In New Zealand, police already have access to weapons when they need them, as was shown when they took down the mosque shooter.

Everything good about what the police do, seemed to be embodied in the actions of those brave two officers who caught and arrested him.

I'm no longer so terrified of the police in New Zealand. I have a few Samoan mates in the police, know more about what they do and what they face, and recently even did a cameo in the latest police recruitment video. But I also understand why sections of the community still fear them.

Bush said that after the trial, they will assess the success or otherwise of the pilot, and that they will listen to the public, before deciding whether to roll out the scheme nationally. 

The public will be watching, very carefully.