Advice provided on the BDMRR changes
Terry Thomas made this Official Information request to New Zealand Police
The request was successful.
      From: Terry Thomas
      
    
    Dear New Zealand Police,
Hello I would like all advice provided to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or any other ministry, agency or minister on the impact proposed changes to the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registrations Act regarding self identification on birth certificates, and their impact on police operations, particularly in relation to custody issues.
I'd like advice similarly provided regarding any impact on police intelligence files and criminal records, and your ability to carry out background checks on people who might amend their birth certificates under the proposed changes.
Yours faithfully,
Terry Thomas
        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Tēnā koe Terry
I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act (OIA) request below, received by New Zealand Police on 30 June 2021.
Your request is being actioned pursuant to the OIA. 
You can expect a response to your request on or before 28 July 2021.
Kind regards, Michelle
Ministerial Services PNHQ
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      From: Terry Thomas
      
    
    Dear Ministerial Services,
Hello Michelle
Can I ease amend this to include any internal advice on the issue, ie advice provided within NZ Police but not necessarily released to other agencies etc.
Thanks
Yours sincerely,
Terry Thomas
        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Hi Terry
I have passed this onto the workgroup assigned to respond to your request.
Thank you, Michelle
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        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Kia ora Terry
Thank you for your request dated 30 June 2021, noting the request for additional information on 1 July 2021, seeking information under the Official Information Act 1982.
You asked for:
"…all advice provided to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or any other ministry, agency or minister on the impact proposed changes to the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registrations Act regarding self identification on birth certificates, and their impact on police operations, particularly in relation to custody issues.
I'd like advice similarly provided regarding any impact on police intelligence files and criminal records, and your ability to carry out background checks on people who might amend their birth certificates under the proposed changes."
You amended your request on 1 July and asked:
"Can I ease amend this to include any internal advice on the issue, ie advice provided within NZ Police but not necessarily released to other agencies etc."
Police need some further information as to the scope of your request to be able to respond.
Could you please clarify the following:
•	The timeframe of your request: i.e which dates are you meaning for the external and internal advice listed in your request to fall between?
•	The scope of your request to include any internal advice on the issue. Can you clarify whether the issue referred to is: 
o	The impact proposed changes to the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registrations Act regarding self identification on birth certificates, and their impact on police operations, particularly in relation to custody issues.
Or/and
o	advice similarly provided regarding any impact on police intelligence files and criminal records, and your ability to carry out background checks on people who might amend their birth certificates under the proposed changes.
Kind regards,
Sophie
Ministerial Services PNHQ
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      From: Terry Thomas
      
    
    Dear Ministerial Services,
Hi Sophie
I hope this clarifies and assists you.
What I am looking for is assessments made by NZ Police of how the self identification aspects of the bill might impact your operations, including:
how it might affect and/or change your procedures around treatment of prisoners and/or allocation of staff in terms of housing, personal searches, and prisoner transfer;
Also assessments of how it might affect your recording of offenders and/or searches of criminal records, and any flow on effects such as issuing of suspect descriptions and arrest reports to the public. I'm particularly interested in any assessments of whether a person changing their sex identifier will affect NZ Police's ability to see their complete record for things such as employment and safeguarding checks.
The law was proposed in 2020 so since 1 Jan 2020 should be reasonable. It would be helpful if you could indicate if there are many documents
Yours sincerely,
Terry Thomas
        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Thank you Terry, that has helped immensely. Because we have clarified and refined the request with you, the due date has been reset to 9 August 2021. Work is underway on your request, and we will provide a response to you as soon as practicable. 
Kind regards,
Sophie
Police National Headquarters Wellington
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        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Tēnā koe Terry
  
 I refer to your request of 12 July 2021, for information relating to the
 impact of proposed changes to the Births Deaths Marriages and
 Relationships Registrations Act regarding self identification on birth
 certificates.
 
I have been asked to advise you that Police requires an extension of time
 in which to respond to your request, pursuant to section 15A(1) of the
 Official Information Act (OIA). Specifically, section 15A(1)(b),
 consultations necessary to make a decision on the request are such that a
 proper response to the request cannot reasonably be made within the
 original time limit.
 
Police require until 16 August 2021 to provide a substantive response to
 your request.
 
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the OIA, to make a complaint to
 an Ombudsman about this extension.
 
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this
 decision, please feel free to contact
 [1][email address].
  
 Ngā mihi
 Fiona
 Ministerial Services
 PNHQ
 
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
 addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
 subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
 creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
 are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
 message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
 message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
 those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
 error, please email or telephone the sender immediately
References
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 1. mailto:[email address]
        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Tēnā koe Mr Thomas
 
I refer to your request, received by Police on 12 July 2021, for the
 following information:
 
I would like all advice provided to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or
 any other ministry, agency or minister on the impact proposed changes to
 the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registrations Act regarding
 self identification on birth certificates, and their impact on police
 operations, particularly in relation to custody issues.  I'd like advice
 similarly provided regarding any impact on police intelligence files and
 criminal records, and your ability to carry out background checks on
 people who might amend their birth certificates under the proposed
 changes.
 
Unfortunately we are unlikely to be able to meet the extended due date of
 16 August 2021.
 
I can confirm that a response to your request has been drafted and is
 currently progressing through our internal consultation process.
 
Although I am unable to confirm a release date at this stage, in normal
 circumstances this process can take up to eight working days.
 
Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing you with a response
 to your query. We are endeavouring to provide this to you as soon as
 possible.
  
 Ngā mihi
 Fiona
 Ministerial Services
 PNHQ
 
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
 addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
 subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
 creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
 are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
 message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
 message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
 those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
 error, please email or telephone the sender immediately
        From: Ministerial Services
        New Zealand Police
      
    
    Tēnā koe Terry                                     
Please find attached the response to your Official Information Act
 request, received by New Zealand Police on 12 July 2021.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing you with this
 response.
Ngā mihi,
 
Penni
Penni Davenport |Ministerial Services Advisor
Strategy & Partnerships |PNHQ
 
 
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
 addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
 subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
 creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
 are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
 message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
 message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
 those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
 error, please email or telephone the sender immediately
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
 - Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
 

