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This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Official Information request 'National Gang List- process for initial attribution of individuals to a gang'.
Reference: IR-01-22-17598
1 August 2022    
Andrew Li 
[FYI request #19696 email] 
Tēnā koe Andrew 
Request for information 
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 16 June 2022 
regarding the National Gang List (NGL). 
The National Gang List (NGL) is comprised of information held by the Gang 
Intelligence Centre (GIC) agencies about patched or prospect New Zealand Adult 
Gang (NZAG) members and does not record gang associates or those who may be 
affiliated. The NGL was created for intelligence purposes, not for the purpose of 
counting gang membership numbers or to act as a reporting tool.  
The information is collected for the purpose of maintaining oversight of the gang 
environment, to enhance our understanding of the scale of social harm caused by 
gangs, and to support the identification of prevention and intervention opportunities. 
Individuals are added to the NGL following a validation process carried out by Police 
districts and national intelligence staff. The following factors are taken into 
consideration when validating gang membership (patched or prospect) status: 
•
intelligence from operations and search warrants.
•
an ‘intelligence noting’ identifying an individual wearing a patch.
•
visible evidence of members wearing a patch.
•
certain prominent or significant gang ‘patch’ tattoo.
It should be noted that the indicators that would lead to someone being added to the 
list, such as being observed wearing a gang patch, are much more visible and reliable 
than the indicators that might lead to them being removed from the list, such as good 
intelligence suggesting they have been de-patched. The names of people who simply 
drift away from gang involvement are much less likely to be removed from the list due 
to the challenges of corroborating their exit. This means that there can be a ratcheting 
effect in terms of numbers on the list. 
A fluctuation in numbers on the NGL may be attributable to a variety of factors, 
including changes in recording processes and methodology, improved intelligence 
collection and collation capability, as well as new individuals being identified as joining 
Police National Headquarters
180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. 
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz   

























NZAGs. Police continues to improve the quality and detail of data relating to gang 
membership at a district and national level in order to inform the delivery of policing 
services and support the identification of prevention and intervention opportunities.  
Responses to your questions are set out below. 
1) Any internal policy or guidelines regarding what the process by which an
individual would be 'added to the list' as a gang member or associate, the
corroboration required to take this action, and any differences in how this
process would be followed, based on the reporting agency or other
circumstances- for example, one expects that there would be a different
process for handling a report by a police officer who arrests a gang member as
they commit an assault in the course of a gang-related fight, to an email from an
ACC case manager or IRD auditor suggesting that a person may be involved in
a gang.
Releasing this type of detailed information could lead to unintended consequences 
such as changing the behaviour of gang members, impacting on our ability to 
understand the gang environment. Therefore, this information is withheld under section 
6(c) of the OIA, where making the information available would be likely to prejudice the 
maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of 
offences. 
2) Summary statistics (count by agency by year, or count by agency if this is not
available) on which agencies have caused individuals to be initially 'added to
the list', but ONLY IF this is:
2a) Already produced as part of the GIC work product or 2b) Readily producible
from a report run against the GIC
This information is not held by the GIC and is not easily producible. This part of your 
request is therefore refused under section 18(g) of the OIA. 
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied 
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is 
available at: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. 
Yours sincerely 
Julia Smith 
Manager - Intelligence Fusion Teams 
New Zealand Police  

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