IR-01-22-22097
6 September 2022
Charlotte Cotter
[FYI request #20035 email]
Tēnā koe Charlotte
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 27 July 2022. You
contacted Police with an additional question on 9 August 2022. All questions are listed
below, followed by an answer for each.
Can you please advise what your procedures are when responding to a
telephoned in bomb threat to a secondary school in NZ.
Is there a specialist team involved in checking and securing the property?
A bomb threat is assessed based on the information received at the time. Standard
practice is for a member of Police and a representative from the school to review the
nature of the threat and to ascertain what action needs to be taken. In consultation
between Police and the school, searches are undertaken, local evacuations may occur,
and cordons put in place.
Dependent on the assessment made by Police or if foreign packages or items are
located, this will result in either a team from the Specialist Search Group including an
Explosives Detector Dog and/or one of the New Zealand Defence Force Explosives
Ordinance Disposal teams being deployed to the scene.
Is it normal practice for heavily armed police to be guarding the location at which
there has been a bomb threat.
Using TENR (Threat, Exposure, Necessity, Response), Police constantly review the
situation presented to them, including the immediate surroundings to determine an
appropriate course of action. The overriding principle when applying TENR is that of
‘safety is success’. Victim, public and employee safety are paramount, and every effort
must be made to minimise harm and maximise safety.
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
Is it usual practice that the police would also inform surrounding residential
properties of the threat?
This depends on the nature of the threat, whether foreign packages are located and the
assessment of TENR made by Police.
Further to my above request, I now request whether any charges have been
brought against the instigator of the high school bomb threats, or whether the
instigator was actually identified.
As investigations into the bomb threats are ongoing, your question is refused under
section 6(c) of the OIA, as the making available of the information would be likely to
prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation , and
detection of offences, and the right to a fair trial.
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.
Yours sincerely
Superintendent Zane Hooper
Director Tactical Operations
