25 March 2022
IR-01-22-3247
Joshua Rogers
[FYI request #18453 email]
Dear Joshua
Request for information
Thank you for your request dated 5 February 2022 seeking information under the
Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) relating to stolen vehicles.
You requested the following information:
I am writing to request the statistics and data on stolen vehicles in New Zealand.
Specifically, I would request an excel spreadsheet containing the fol owing
columns from the date range - 01/01/2018 - 05/02/2022. Those marked with (*)
I request are the minimum that can be done, I understand if the others cannot be
added in.
-Recovered (Y/N)*
-Time (If possible)
-Location*
-Make/Model & Year
-Date*
-Date recovered
-Rego*-
Please see the Excel spreadsheet attached.
Note that the data used to provide this information comes from operational Police
systems which may be subject to change over time.
The data provided represents ‘stolen vehicle alerts’ between 1 January 2018 and 5
February 2022 - note that not all stolen vehicles are cars. Stolen vehicle alerts relate to
the operational process used by Police to identify stolen vehicles until they are located –
an alert is placed against the vehicle record in the system to indicate that it is stolen, and
then removed when the vehicle is recovered. The spreadsheet includes:
• Date of recovery (if recovered – where this is not included, you can infer that the
vehicle was not recovered or certainly that any recovery was not reported to
Police)
• Location fields – based on the Police District where the vehicle was stolen
• The date that Police entered the alert fol owing a report of the vehicle being
stolen
• Vehicle details include the make and model and year of manufacture.
Data about ‘stolen vehicle alerts’ is the best way for Police to provide you with
information about both stolen vehicles and subsequent vehicle recovery as one topic,
but it does not include the time that the vehicle was stolen. To provide the time would
require significant further analysis, therefore this information is refused pursuant to
section 18(f) of the OIA as the information cannot be made available without substantial
collation and research.
Registration numbers are considered personal information that can identify an
individual and therefore refused pursuant to section 9(2)(a) of the OIA, to protect the
privacy of natural persons.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman if you are
unhappy with this response. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely,
Kathryn Wilson
Manager: Strategy & Capability
National Criminal Investigations Group
