New Zealand police threshold for prosecuting assaults on children
John Creser made this Official Information request to Poto Williams
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From: John Creser
Dear Poto WIlliams,
Last year I reported a case of child abuse to the police. I was advised by the police that there was a threshold that needed to be met before they'd act.
Could you please advise me what your policy is in respect of that threshold and if need be, refer this request to the police to answer.
Yours faithfully,
John Creser
From: P Williams (MIN)
Poto Williams
Kia Orana,
On behalf of Hon Poto Williams, Minister for Building and Construction,
Minister of Police, Associate Minister for Children and Associate Minister
for Housing (Public Housing), thank you for your email.
Please accept this email as acknowledgment of receipt of you
correspondence. Please be assured that all correspondence is read and
considered.
Requests to meet with the Minister or have the Minister attend an event
will be considered, and a staff member will get back to you as soon as
possible.
If you have a media query, please contact Georgina O'Reilly
georgina.o'[email address]
If your correspondence is to the Member of Parliament for Christchurch
East, please contact her electorate office at
[email address]
Please note that if your email expresses a personal view or is copied to
multiple Members of Parliament your views will be noted and there may be
no further correspondence.
Thank you for the taking the time to write.
Regards, Office of Hon Poto Williams
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From: P Williams (MIN)
Poto Williams
Kia ora John
Official information request
I refer to your attached official information request.
We have transferred your request to New Zealand Police. The information to which your request relates is not held by us but is believed to be more closely connected with the functions of New Zealand Police. In these circumstances, we are required by section 14 of the OIA to transfer your request.
Ngā mihi,
Moana Fuli
Private Secretary, Executive Support | Office of Hon Poto Williams
DDI: 04 817 8724 | Email: [email address]
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Authorised by Hon Poto Williams, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.
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From: Ministerial Services
Tēnā koe John
I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act (OIA) request below, received by New Zealand Police on 22 September 2021.
Your request is being actioned pursuant to the OIA. You can expect a response to your request on or before 20 October 2021.
Kind regards, Michelle
Ministerial Services PNHQ
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From: John Creser
Dear P Williams (MIN),
Thank you for referring my request concerning the threshold for prosecuting assaults on children to the Police for reply.
As Associate Minister for Children, I'd now like to ask you in this capacity, what you office views as the threshold for notifications made to Oranga Tamariki. For example; how many notifications of significant concern would be acceptable before Oranga Tamariki would be expected to notify police?
Yours sincerely,
John Creser
From: Sue Roy
Tēnā koe Mr Creser,
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request to Hon Poto Williams,
Associate Minister for Childen, concerning the threshold for prosecuting
assaults on children to the Police for reply under the Official
Information Act 1982.
We will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible, and in any case,
no later than 21 October 2021, being 20 working days from our receipt of
your request on 23 September 2021, as provided for under the Act.
If we are unable to respond to your request within those 20 working days,
we will notify you of an extension to that timeframe.
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]OIA [email address]
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
is confidential and may be legally privileged. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use of this email may be unlawful. If you are not
the intended recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy the email
from all sources. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts
no responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments
after transmission from the Office. ------------------------------
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From: Sue Roy
IN-CONFIDENCE
Tçnâ koe Mr Creser,
Please accept our apologies and ignore the previous email we sent to you
at 8.55am this morning.
Your request is being addressed as “Ministerial Correspondence” not an
Official Information Act (OIA) request and as such the previous OIA
Acknowledgement letter was not appropriate.
Apologies for the confusion,
Nâku noa, nâ
Ministerial Support Tçnâ koe [Mr/Mrs/Ms surname]
Please find attached the response to your correspondence
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
* E: [1]ot [email address]
------------------------------- This email message is intended solely for
the person or entity to which it is addressed. The information it contains
is confidential and may be legally privileged. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use of this email may be unlawful. If you are not
the intended recipient, please notify us immediately and destroy the email
from all sources. Thank you. Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children accepts
no responsibility for changes made to this email or to any attachments
after transmission from the Office. ------------------------------
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From: John Creser
Dear Sue Roy,
Thank you for your the advice that this my request is being addressed as “Ministerial Correspondence” not an Official Information Act (OIA) request.
Does this mean that Oranga Tamariki disclaims having a threshold for prosecuting child abuse. In this case there were 18 notifications of significant interest, so am I safe to assume the 19 is the tipping point?
What I'm now asking for are the guidelines, if any, provided by Oranga Tamariki to their front line staff as to what the threshold is towards prosecuting cases of child abuse.?
If there is no such policy could you please ask the Minister to confirm this under the OIA.
Yours sincerely,
John Creser
From: OT_Requests (OT)
Tēnā koe Mr Creser,
Your correspondence has been forwarded to the Minister.
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Support
PO Box 546, Wellington 6140
P E: ot [email address]
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From: Moana Fuli
Tēnā koe John
Reference: OIA 2021-269
On behalf of Minister Poto Williams, Associate Minister for Children, thank you for your email of 26 September 2021 in which you submitted an Official Information Act request as follow:
"What I'm now asking for are the guidelines, if any, provided by Oranga Tamariki to their front line staff as to what the threshold is towards prosecuting cases of child abuse.?
If there is no such policy could you please ask the Minister to confirm this under the OIA."
Minister Williams is considering your request in accordance with the Act, and will respond in due course.
Ngā mihi,
Moana Fuli
Private Secretary, Executive Support | Office of Hon Poto Williams
DDI: 04 817 8724 | Email: [email address]
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Authorised by Hon Poto Williams, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.
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From: PATEA, James (Jimmy)
Kia ora John,
I am the National Coordinator: Child Protection based in Police National Headquarters in Wellington.
I have received your email from the Office of the Minister of Police.
Can I please discuss your request.
I can also contact you if you provide a contact number.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Nga mihi
Jimmy
James Patea
Detective Senior Sergeant
National Coordinator: Child Protection
National Criminal Investigations Group, PNHQ
P +64 4 212 4468
M +64 021 1902498
E [email address]
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From: John Creser
Dear Senior Sergeant Patea,
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this request and clarify my concerns. I've left out specific details relating to where & when, which I'm sure you'll be able to find if required.
I've requested this information because after reporting a case of assault on a minor to the police, I was told there was a threshold before they'd investigate. I was not asked to make a statement and told that because I'd not seen the assault (only scratches & contusions) there was no point.
Shortly afterwards I made a report to Oranga Tamariki, and initially received the same response. To their credit, I received a call from the head of their department 30 minutes later saying they'd numerous complaints on record and would act immediately.
In an ideal world there would be a zero tolerance policy against abuse and I understand allowances have to be made for the odd slap, bash or biff. However in this case there were numerous notifications of concern to the OT and many more on the police file. My concern is about discovering at what point the authorities consider it appropriate to intervene to enforce the law on behalf of our most vulnerable members of society.
Early intervention after initial reports to the police & OT could have minimized the harm, which is the outcome we all seek. Accordingly, I'd invite you to review the file, and pick a moment where the police could have intervened before the complaints reached the tipping point.
I understand the New Zealand Police may have no specific policy about your threshold for prosecuting assaults. Therefore if you are unable to determine from the file a level of violence warranting prosecution, please refer my request to the police station that provided the advice about the prosecution threshold in the first place.
Yours sincerely
John Creser
From: PATEA, James (Jimmy)
Kia ora,
I am involved in the Adult Sexual Assault and Child Protection National
Managers Conference at the RNZPC from Wednesday 6 October to Friday 8
October.
I will respond to your email as soon as practicable.
Ngā mihi
Jimmy
James Patea
Detective Senior Sergeant
National Coordinator: Child Protection
National Criminal Investigations Group, PNHQ
P +64 4 212 4468
M +64 021 1902498
E [1][email address]
[2]http://www.police.govt.nz/
[3]https://www.youtube.com/user/policenzhtt...
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From: SIMMONS, Sarah
Tēnā koe John
In regard to your Official Information Act 1928 request of 22 September
2021, we understand you no longer wish to proceed with your original
request for policy is in respect of the threshold for investigating a
reported a case of child abuse .
We recognise that you are concerned about the way Police handled a
particular matter that you were involved in. Police will continue to
engage with you in order to ensure those concerns are appropriately
addressed.
Ngā mihi
Sarah
Ministerial Services
New Zealand Police National Headquarters Wellington
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From: Tessa Bercic
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2021 10 21 OIA Letter to J Creser.pdf
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Child Protection Protocol CPP joint operating procedures.pdf
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Kia ora John,
On behalf of Hon Poto Williams, Associate Minister for Children, please
see attached response to your OIA request of 23 September 2021.
Thank you for taking the time to write to the Minister.
Ngâ mihi
Tessa Bercic
Private Secretary (Associate Children)
Office of Hon Poto Williams – MP for Christchurch East
Minister for Building and Construction | Minister of Police| Minister
Responsible for the Serious Fraud Office| Associate Minister for Housing
(Public Housing) | Associate Minister for Children
Phone: 04 817 9999
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From: Moana Fuli
Kia ora John
Please find attached response to your OIA request from the Hon Poto
Williams, Associate Minister for Children.
Ngā mihi,
[1]cid:image003.jpg@01D5DA9C.EAF66FB0 Moana Fuli
Private Secretary, Executive Support
| Office of Hon Poto Williams
DDI: 04 817 8724 | Email:
[2][email address]
Private Bag 18041, Parliament
Buildings, Wellington 6160, New
Zealand
Authorised by Hon Poto Williams, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is
confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or
transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by
replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is
prohibited and may be unlawful.
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