Mason IR 01 22 28849 Response.pdf

IR-01-22-28849
26 October 2022
Mason
[FYI request #20617 email]
Dear Mason
Request  for information
Thank you for Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request, dated 19 September 2022, in which
you requested information about  Police use of polling data. You wrote:
In the Telecommunication investigations Manual, a Polling Information Request, through a
Comms Centre Polling request, is stated to be sent to the  Network  Operations Centre
(NOC} of  the  three telcos. It is described as relating to a "single" polling request. "A query is
done on the Home Location Register (HLR) which is a record of only the last tower a phone
polled off  ... There are no historic records and it is constantly overwritten .... It is not
possible to continually 'track' from this system as it requires constant manual queries.”
You then asked a number of questions. My response to each of your questions can be found
below.
1. Please  provide the full Telecommunication investigations chapter.
The Telecommunications chapter has been provided, however some information has been
withheld pursuant to section 6(c) of the OIA, as the making available of that 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.
2. Do the New Zealand Police have the access to conduct "manual queries" themselves, or
are these   relayed to the  Telco providers.
Police does not  have the ability to conduct these queries and they must be relayed to the
relevant  Telecommunications provider.
3. Is it practically possible to conduct several consecutive manual queries or are there
safeguards in place to prevent this? You state that it is not possible to "continually track'
butis there anything preventing  a bombardment of manual queries as suggested
Each query made to the telecommunications providers is assessed on its merits and legislative
compliance by authorised Police approvers and the telecommunications company themselves.
The main legislation (available to view at www.legislation.govt.nz) that informs Police accessing
polling information, as described in your OIA request are:
1) Privacy Act 2020
2) Human Rights Act 1993

3) New Zealand Bil  of Rights Act 1990
4) Search and Surveil ance Act 2012.
There is also the  Code of Practice issued by the Privacy Commissioner  under section 32 of the
Privacy Act 2020 which specifically relates to the telecommunications industry and is relevant to
your request. Information relating to this Code can be found on the Privacy Commissioner’s
website:
https://privacy.org.nz/privacy-act-2020/codes-of-practice/tipc2020/
Internal Police Controls
Al  requests for polling as described in your request must either go through the Police
Communications Centres or an authorised approver who is generally a non-commissioned
officer or above.
Police staff are guided by and need to adhere to:
•
The Police Code of conduct
•
Police 'Our Values'.
Both documents are available  on  the  Police website:  http://www.police.govt.nz/about-us
4. What is the Warrant I Production Order requirement for  single polling requests?
Unless circumstances justify the release of information under the Telecommunications Privacy
Code, a production order is required to obtain pol ing information. Relevant circumstances are
generally where there is a genuine risk to life of the individual subject to the request or another
and an urgent response is necessary to mitigate this risk.
For questions 2-4, please provide all manuals, guidance materials, or otherwise held up to
date information held by the police.
The Telecommunications chapter has been provided as per question one and relevant
links to material are contained within question two.
I trust this information satisfies your request. You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review
this decision if you are not satisfied with the response to your request. Information about how to
make a complaint is available at: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely
Dave Lankshear
Detective Senior Sergeant
Manager: Telecommunications, Capability and
Compliance Police National Headquarters

Telecommunication investigations

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
3
Policy statement and principles
5
What
5
5
5
Overview
6
6
6
6
Related information
9
Responsibilities
10
10
10
10
11
Forensic analysis of devices
12
12
12
12
13
Evidential integrity of data
14
14
14
15
16
16
16
16
17
17
17
18
18
18
Disclosure and briefing telco evidence
19
19
19
20
Obtaining telecommunications data
21
21
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