More than half of those shot at by police with sponge bullets are Māori, police data shows. The bullets are large rounds of dense, blunt material designed not to penetrate skin.
They are fired from a gas launcher with a range of about 30m.
Information released to RNZ under the Official Information Act shows the weapons have been used 13 times since they were rolled out in 2015 to armed offenders squads and special tactical units.
They have been seven instances where they've been fired at Māori, five at Pakeha and once against a person defined as being of Middle Eastern, Latin American or African decent.
Waikato University Criminologist Juan Tauri told RNZ's Hamish Cardwell it is an upsetting statistic.
