16 December 2021
45 Pipitea Street, Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Oscar
fyi-request-17518-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Oscar
Official Information Act 1982 request 2021-0401 – Person of Interest codes
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 11 November 2021.
You requested –
I request any documentation and information relating to the attachment of POI (person of
interest) or other such codes that are applied to a people's legal identity for surveil ance or
other government reasons. Ie the system used to record that an individual supports an
extremist group.
On 24 November 2021 you clarified your request, confirming you were seeking the fol owing in
relation to Person of Interest (POI) codes:
A breakdown of the of codes assigned to each person in your system, ie the list of codes (with
their meanings) that are possible to be applied and how many are applied to each person.
On 9 December 2021, the Department notified you that it would be extending the timeframe for
response to your request by 5 working days, pursuant to sections 15A(1)(a) and (b) of the Act. This
brought the final response date for your request to 16 December 2021.
In response to your request, I must first advise that the Department does not record any
information or POI codes about an individual’s connections to extremist groups and
organisations.
However, I am able to provide you with Appendix A, attached. Appendix A provides you with a
breakdown of the following information:
•
Table one - List of Passports POI codes with count of active alerts
•
Table two - List of Determinations Confirmation System (DCS) person alert codes with
count
•
Table three - Count of Citizenship Operations System (COS) Person Alerts
•
Table four - Count of active Customer Centred Management Solution (CCMS) Person
Alerts
It is important to explain that the systems COS and CCMS do not have ‘POI codes’ or ‘alert
codes’, only person alerts. Person alerts have a free text narrative and are often used by the Life
and Identity Services Officers processing applications to place reminders on files, i.e. to follow
up with an applicant for supporting documentation required for an application. This means that
the alerts captured in tables three and four wil include a number of reminders in addition to
person alerts.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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