IR-01-23-19724
23 August 2023
James
[FYI request #23251 email]
Tēnā koe James
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 23 June 2023. You
wrote:
As per the 1News segment dated 23/06/2023 Operation Cobalt has made 8,311
arrests and 39,959 charges have been laid.
Under the OIA please provide the following information:
Of the 8,311 people arrested, how many are actual/confirmed gang members on
the National Gang List (NGL)?
Please confirm if the 8,311 arrested contains people who have been arrested
more than once in the period concerned? If so, please provide details on the
number of people with multiple arrests.
Of the 39,959 charges laid please detail how many charges, if any have been
dropped as of 23/06/2023.
Please detail how many of 39,959 charges are for traffic offences, disturbing the
peace, or charges carrying 6 months or less prison time?
To date (23/06/2023) how many convictions have occurred from the 39,959
charges laid?
To date (23/06/2023) of the 8,311 arrested how many are on remand? In
custody? On bail? Yet to go to court?
In that news segment, the
8,311 arrests referred to the number of individuals in Police
custody.
Data in this response is drawn from a dynamic operational database and is subject to
change as new information is recorded or updated on a recurring basis.
As at 21 July 2023, between 13 June 2022 and 23 June 2023 there were 8,635 people in
Police custody who were also recorded in the National Intelligence Application (NIA) as
gang members or associates. Of these 8,635 people, 4,475 were in Police custody more
than once during this period.
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
Of the 8,635 people in Police custody over this period, 3,069 were recorded as gang
members on the April 2023 National Gang List (NGL). Cobalt’s operational reporting is
completed through NIA and not the NGL. The NGL is not a statistically reliable measure
of gang membership, but rather an intelligence tool used to understand the gang
environment. The NGL is updated every two months and does not track gang associates.
For the purposes of Operation Cobalt reporting, ‘charges’ is defined as prosecutions and
warnings that had a mode of arrested, summonsed, or other against gang members or
associates (this means other actions, such as youth referrals or Te Pae Oranga referrals
are not included). As at 21 July 2023, between 13 June 2022 and 23 June 2023, Police
laid 42,308 such charges against 9,248 people who are recorded in NIA as gang
members or associates.
Of the 42,308 charges, 5,568 charges have been dismissed, withdrawn, or not proceeded
with, as at 21 July 2023. Additionally, 946 were warnings and therefore did not go to
court.
Of the 42,308 charges, 19,039 charges have resulted in a conviction, as at 21 July 2023.
Of the 42,308 charges, 18,833 charges were for offences that have a maximum penalty
of six months imprisonment or less or no imprisonment, or for traffic offences (some of
which carry a penalty that has a greater than six months maximum imprisonment term). In
respect to your query relating to ‘disturbing the peace’ we note there is no such offence.
We cannot respond to your last question under section 18(g) of the OIA, as the
information is not held by Police. There is no direct relationship between an individual
held in Police custody and remand or court bail. The Courts decide whether a person is
granted bail or if they are remanded in custody – this refers to the Department of
Corrections custody (ie, prison), not Police custody. More information about post-court
process is available here -
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/about-the-judiciary/how-
decisions-are-made/bail/ - and about remand here -
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/our_work/courts_and_pre-sentencing/remand
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.
Please note that as part of its commitment to openness and transparency, Police
proactively releases some information and documents that may be of interest to the
public. An anonymised version of this response may be publicly released on the New
Zealand Police website.
Ngā mihi
Uraia Vakaruru
National Controller COBALT
Detective Superintendent: Northern
New Zealand Police
