IR-01-23-18049
21 July 2023
Mason Helm
[FYI request #23086 email]
Dear Mason
Request for information
I refer to your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 10 June 2023, in which you
asked for information about Police’s audit of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR):
After media reports of the Police misuse of Auror and vGRID in September 2022, the
Police conducted an audit of the 350,000+ vehicle location / information searches from
between 2018 and October 2022 on their third-party ANPR surveil ance systems,
namely Auror and SaferCities (vGRID).
The Police previously refused my request on (a) how many live ANPR alerts (tracking)
were conducted on Auror and vGRID; and (b) how many surveil ance device warrants
had been obtained for Auror and vGRID.
This information is now held by the Police in an accessible dataset, as indicated by the
Police's recent publication on the Audit process:
The audit involved "extracting aggregate raw data files [for al ] queries ... [on Auror
and vGRID, then] match[ed] other data available in Police’s National Intelligence
Application (NIA) including ... warrant information to produce a dataset ...”
Police’s response to each of your questions is set out below.
1. [P]lease provide: - an Excel file of the cited dataset with personal information
removed.
Raw data was obtained from each of the platform providers for solely the purpose of the
audit. The raw data also contains information which, if released, would likely provide
competitors a commercial advantage by providing details of the platforms' capabilities.
This information is therefore withheld under the fol owing grounds:
•
section 9(2)(b)(i ) of the OIA, as making the information available would be likely
to unreasonably prejudice the commercial positions of Auror and SaferCities
• section 9(2)(ba)(i) of the OIA, to protect information which is subject to an
obligation of confidence where the making available of the information would be
likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or information from the same
source, and it is in the public interest that such information should continue to be
supplied.
The audit process used specialised data mining and analytics for the purpose of seeking
to verify Police staff were accessing third-party provided data in appropriate ways. From
the information Police does hold from the audit process, we have provided a response to
your further questions as below.
Alternatively, if the Police are not wil ing to release the dataset, please provide:
2.
The number of historic / retrospective ANPR searches conducted per year
audited.
The fol owing table displays the number of times a vehicle has been queried using either
the ‘Find A Vehicle’ function in the Auror platform or the ‘Quick Search’ function in the
SaferCities platform which are captured as historic queries from data obtained during the
audit process. Please note the following:
1. These data reflect individual queries, including searching the same vehicle
multiple times, by multiple users.
2. November 2022 is excluded as a partial month at the time of data extraction.
3. These data include a user entering multiple plates within a single ‘Quick Search’.
4. The record date is either the ‘start’ of the search or, where such is missing, the
‘Date’ of the record.
Number of historic vehicle queries
Month
2019
2020
2021
2022
January
1,924
5,115
11,930
February
1,878
5,799
13,756
March
2,502
7,108
15,338
April
2,366
7,064
14,737
May
3,538
9,047
18,955
June
2,649
9,259
22,941
July
3,300
11,115
24,699
August
3,836
10,864
27,651
September
5,010
11,135
25,487
October
89
4,208
9,754
13,756
November
996
4,360
11,202
December
1,549
4,194
11,271
3. The number of Live / Active Detection Capability ANPR alerts conducted per
year audited
The table on the fol owing page displays the number of times a vehicle has been queried
using either the Auror ‘Track A Vehicle’ function or the SaferCities ‘Plate of Interest’
function which are active detection queries, from data obtained during the audit process.
Please note the following:
1. These data reflect individual active detection queries, including searching the
same vehicle multiple times, by multiple users.
2. Once again November 2022 is excluded as a partial month at the time of data
extraction.
Number of active detection vehicle queries
Month
2019
2020
2021
2022
January
13
32
192
272
February
2
34
148
171
March
6
47
192
175
April
14
62
228
141
May
14
64
256
185
June
6
56
323
233
July
6
94
293
251
August
11
65
286
234
September
10
68
238
216
October
12
93
207
205
November
29
86
235
December
29
98
296
4. The number of ANPR queries conducted under a tracking warrant, categorised
by query type (live or retrospective) and year.
The use of the active detection capability requires a warrant with the exceptions of a risk
to life or safety, or urgent or emergency circumstances as provided for in section 48 of the
Search and Surveil ance Act 2012. Reliance on section 48 requires that a report is made
to a judge regarding the circumstances of its use in the month after the active detection
(see section 60 of the Act). The circumstances leading to the requirement to use active
detection are thus recorded in the warrant, or in the report to a judge, not the platform.
It fol ows that the number of queries conducted under a tracking warrant has not been
captured during the audit process, and as the information is not held your request is
refused under section 18(g) of the OIA. Rather, cross-referencing was conducted for the
purpose of the audit to confirm the use of the active detection function was appropriate.
5. The number of ANPR queries conducted under a production order or general
warrant, categorised by query type (live or retrospective) and year.
Police has not used production orders to obtain ANPR information. As noted above, a
warrant is only required for active detection queries. The number of active detections
recorded in the data is provided in response to question 3.
6. The number of ANPR queries conducted under the Privacy Act (Such as the
supposed IPP11 authority cited in the Police manual chapter), categorised by
query type (live or retrospective) and year.
The Privacy Act 2020 governs ANPR queries. The col ection principles 1-4 in s 22 apply
to requests made by Police, and principle 11 applies to the platform provider, in the
collection and disclosure of third-party data provided by ANPR platforms to meet law
enforcement functions.
The number of ANPR queries has been provided above, in response to parts 2 and 3 of
your request.
7. The number of ANPR queries conducted under any other Authority, categorised
by query type (live or retrospective), authorising enactment or circumstance
(Health Act for example), and year.
As advised above, the Search and Surveil ance Act 2012 authorises the use of the active
detection capability in specific circumstances. In addition, as previously advised (refer IR-
01-23-10510), Police has also cited Section 71A of the Health Act 1956 as a basis for
authorising use of the active detection capability.
In addition, as also advised above, the Privacy Act 2020 governs ANPR queries.
We have not identified any other authorities under which police have requested ANPR
information from holders.
8. The number of ANPR queries conducted where an officer did not enter
information related to the circumstances of the request in the applications before
conducting the searches (for instance, as would be required to satisfy IPP 11 of
the Privacy Act which the Police manual chapter suggests as an authority).
Categorised by query type (live or retrospective), authority (warrant, Privacy Act,
etc), and year.
There are no data pertaining to when queries were made when information related to the
circumstances was not entered. This information therefore does not exist, and your
request is refused under section 18(e).
To understand further why there are no data, there are mandatory fields to be completed
when conducting a query to satisfy the requirements for a third party provider that the
request is reasonable and necessary.
In closing, I trust you find this response informative. However, if you are not satisfied with
this response, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review Police’s handling of
your request. Information about how to do so is available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Sincerely
Carla Gilmore
Manager: New Technology Assurance
New Zealand Police
