8 November 2021
IR-01-21-30346
Dan Rowland
[FYI request #17099 email]
Dear Dan
I refer to your Official Information Act 1982 request dated 9 October 2021 in
which you requested information relating to offences under the Civil Aviation Act
1990.
My response to each of your questions can be found below.
Has New Zealand Police prosecuted ANY Offences under the Civil
Aviation Act in the past two calendar years (2019 and 2020)?
If so, how many?
If possible, please break these down by charge.
The table below shows the number of proceedings against offenders for the
offence, ‘Breach Civil Aviation Act’ for the years 2019 and 2020 that resulted in
court action.
Table 1: Number of proceedings against offenders for the offence
‘Breach Civil Aviation Act’ that resulted in court action 2019 - 2020
Year
2019
2020
Number of Proceedings
4
5
A proceeding counts each separate occasion where Police take legal action
against an alleged offender for one or more offences. The table above counts
all proceedings involving the offence stated above.
Proceedings for official statistics are usually classified according to the most
serious offence the offender is dealt with on that occasion. For the proceedings
provided above the most serious offence may not have been ‘Breach Civil
Aviation Act.’ Therefore, please note that these figures may differ to figures
published elsewhere.
Does New Zealand Police have any manual or procedure for investigating
and laying charges under the Civil Aviation Act (similar to the behavioural
Offences chapter, for example). If so, please provide a copy.
If not covered, does New Zealand Police have any manual for
investigating behavioural Offences that occur on airports or aircraft.
Police maintains a National Recording Standard that explains how and what
information is recorded by Police, which includes principles governing the
recording of offences and incidents. The Standard is publicly accessible here:
https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/national-recording-
standard-nrs-august-2019.pdf.
The Aviation Security Office may be able to provide a more comprehensive
procedure for investigating breaches under the Civil Aviation Act, you can contact
them via their website: https://www.aviation.govt.nz/.
Please note that as part of its commitment to openness and transparency, Police
proactively releases some information and documents that may be of interest to
the public. Therefore an anonymised version of this response may be publicly
released on the New Zealand Police website.
I trust this information is sufficient for your purposes. If you have any questions
regarding this data, please feel free to contact me via [email address].
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not
satisfied with Police’s response to your request.
Yours sincerely
