Diversion and Pre-charge warnings Statistics

Liam made this Official Information request to New Zealand Police

The request was partially successful.

From: Liam

Dear New Zealand Police,
This is a request for information, made under ss 4 and 5 of the Official Information Act 1982 (“the Act”). I therefore would like the following information;

1. How many individual cases of diversion have there been each year, for the past 5 years; and
2. How many individual pre-charge warnings have there been each year, for the past 5 years; and
3. What has been the most common charge each year, for the past 5 years; and
4. Any reports or statistics that show a collation between specific charges (like s 23 Summary Offences Act 1981) and diversion/pre-charge warnings.
5. Any reports, manuals or policy documents regarding the discretion of issuing pre-charge warnings AND diversion.
6. Any other documents relevant to the above requests.

Please CONFIRM receipt of this email to prevent unnecessary follow-up emails and extensions being requested.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As required by s12(1) of the Act, I am a New Zealand citizen. I will provide confirmation of this, if required. However, since all of our correspondence will be published on the FYI.org.nz site, I will only do so over the phone or email, with which you provide. This would only be for the purpose of citizenship confirmation, and nothing further related to this request.

As required by s12(3) of the Act, I shall provide reason(s) why this request should be treated as URGENT. The questions above raise important issues of accountability of the Government, its departments and agents. Any and all information provided as a result of this request could and may be published either by the writer online to a wide audience or passed onto media outlets for publication so that the public can be kept informed on important issues of transparency.

As required by s13(c) of the Act, if this request “has not been made … to the appropriate department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or local authority”, it is your duty to give reasonable assistance to me to direct my request to the appropriate department or Minister of the Crown or organisation or local authority.

Further to the above statutory requirement, under s14 of the Act, if the information I seek is either not held or you believe it is more closely connected with another department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or of a local authority you shall promptly, and in any case not later than 10 working days after the day on which the request is received, transfer the request to the other department or Minister of the Crown or organisation, or to that local authority, AND inform me accordingly.

As required under s15A of the Act, if you believe that a time extension is warranted for this request, you must under ss15A(2),(3) and (4) give notice to me of this extension within 20 working days after the day on which my request was received. In that notice, you should state; the period of the extension, give reasons for the extension and remind me of my right to complain to the Ombudsman under s28(3). Finally, the extension must be for a reasonable time, having regards to the circumstances.

As required by s18B of the Act, you must consider consulting me before refusing my request under the provisions of ss18(e) and (f) which relate to a document not being able to be found or existing or where substantial collation and research would be required for my current request.

As required by s19(a)(i), you must provide reasons if you refuse any parts of this request.

I will, if required, complain to the Ombudsman, as is my right under s28(3) of the Act, if any of the above statutory requirements on you are not complied with. Further to this, if your reply is not “as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case not later than 20 working days after the day on which the request is received” as required under s15(1) of the Act, I will also complain to the Ombudsman.

This request is made through the site FYI.org.nz. All correspondence will be automatically forwarded to me through the site and published online immediately. I require, where appropriate, all electronic copies of all documents in your response. For more information on how the site works, please visit www.fyi.org.nz/help/about.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Stoneley

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Thomas Roberts left an annotation ()

1 through to 4 is mainly Ministry of Justice data (since diversions are handled through the court) and are all available on NZ.Stat in the Police and Justice tables.

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Liam left an annotation ()

Are you able to provide link please? My understanding is that Diversion is run through Police, not Courts.

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From: Liam

Dear New Zealand Police,

I usually receive confirmation of receiving requests from you.

This has not occurred.

This request in now over half way through the 20 day time limit.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Stoneley

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Joshua Grainger left an annotation ()

Diversion statistics by offence category are available here: http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Inde...

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Joshua Grainger left an annotation ()

(Although diversion and discharge without conviction statistics aren't separated out)

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New Zealand Police

Hello,
 
We'll check where your OIA is at.
 
Kind regards,
Police Public Affairs

-----Liam Stoneley <[FOI #2768 email]> wrote:
-----
To: OIA requests at New Zealand Police <[New Zealand Police request email]>
From: Liam Stoneley <[FOI #2768 email]>
Date: 11/06/2015 11:06PM
Subject: Re: Official Information Act request - Diversion and Pre-charge
warnings Statistics

Dear New Zealand Police,

I usually receive confirmation of receiving requests from you.

This has not occurred.

This request in now over half way through the 20 day time limit.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Stoneley

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #2768 email]

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If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA page.

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===============================================================

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From: MCMAHON, Teresa
New Zealand Police

Dear Mr Stoneley

 

 

I refer to the following request you made to Police on 25 May 2015:

 

Subject: Official Information Act request - Diversion and Pre-charge
warnings Statistics

 

This is a request for information, made under ss 4 and 5 of the Official
Information Act 1982 (“the Act”). I therefore would like the following
information;

1. How many individual cases of diversion have there been each year, for
the past 5 years; and

2. How many individual pre-charge warnings have there been each year, for
the past 5 years; and

3. What has been the most common charge each year, for the past 5 years;
and

4. Any reports or statistics that show a collation between specific
charges (like s 23 Summary Offences Act 1981) and diversion/pre-charge
warnings.

5. Any reports, manuals or policy documents regarding the discretion of
issuing pre-charge warnings AND diversion.

6. Any other documents relevant to the above requests.

The purpose of this email is to notify you that Police require an
extension of time in which to respond to your request, pursuant to section
15A(1) of the Official Information Act 1982, because the request
necessitates a search through a large quantity of information and
consultations such that a proper response to the request cannot reasonably
be made within the original time limit.

 

Police require until 20 July 2015 to provide a substantive response to
your request. 

 

You have the right to complain to the Office of the Ombudsmen about this
extension.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

T McMahon

Ministerial Services

Police National Headquarters

PO Box 3017

Wellington

 

===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

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New Zealand Police

Dear Mr Stoneley

 

I am writing in response to your request, dated 25 May 2015 , for
information relating to diversion and pre-charge warning statistics, made
under the Official Information Act (OIA) 1982.

 

Diversion

 

Police does not produce statistics on the number of cases of diversion.  
Therefore, this part of your request is refused under section 18(g) of the
OIA, as the information is not held.

 

However, the number of charges prosecuted against adults where the outcome
was 'Diversion-Discharge without conviction' is available from the Justice
tables of the Statistics New Zealand website ( [1]www.stats.govt.nz ).

 

Pre Charge Warnings

 

For parts 2 and 3 of your request, below is a table showing the number of
Pre-Charge Warnings issued from October to December 2010 and for each of
the years ending 31 December 2011 to 2014 by offence division. Please note
that Pre-Charge Warnings were introduced nationally in October 2010.

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  |Oct-Dec|Jan-Dec|Jan-Dec|Jan-Dec|Jan-Dec|
| | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Acts intended to cause injury | 104| 593| 858| 842| 768|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Sexual assault | 0| 0| 0| 2| 2|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Dangerous/negligent acts | 1| 39| 80| 69| 30|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Abduct ion/harassment | 37| 167| 256| 299| 320|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Robbery/extortion | 1| 0| 7| 1| 0|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Unlawful entry with intent | 6| 14| 13| 14| 8|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Theft | 386| 1,978| 2,447| 2,349| 2,122|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Fraud/deception | 10| 43| 66| 74| 38|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Illicit drug offences | 244| 1,210| 1,857| 1,305| 1,279|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Prohibited/regulated weapons | 36| 172| 297| 259| 271|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Property damage | 75| 320| 469| 406| 313|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Public order offences | 2,415| 12,153| 16,914| 14,041| 8,620|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Traffic and vehicle regulatory | | | | | |
|offences | 3| 25| 26| 24| 23|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Offences against justice | 171| 757| 1,030| 940| 956|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Miscellaneous offences | 7| 92| 134| 26| 56|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Other | 0| 0| 0| 0| 1|
|--------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|TOTAL | 3,496| 17,563| 24,454| 20,651| 14,807|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Please note that the data provided are provisional only, as they are drawn
from a dynamic operational database.   These data are subject to change
over time as information is constantly updated, added or removed during
the course of active investigations.  

 

For part 4 of your request, Police does not produce statistics on the
correlation between specific charges and diversion/pre-charge warnings.
Therefore, this part of your request is refused under section 18(g) of the
Official Information Act, as the information is not held.

 

Finally, for parts 5 and 6 of your request, factsheets, reports or
documents relating to Pre-Charge Warnings and Adults Diversion Schemes are
publicly available on the New Zealand Police website (
[2]www.police.govt.nz ). Therefore these parts of your request are refused
under section 18(d) of the Official Information Act, as the information is
publicly available.

 

Although for the reasons above not all of the information you have sought
has been provided with this letter, I trust my response is still helpful
in guiding you to online holdings for such data.

 

As you may already be aware, you have the right under section 28(3) of the
OIA to seek a review of my handling of your request by the Office of the
Ombudsmen.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Dr Gavin Knight

Chief Data Scientist

Strategy Group

New Zealand Police

===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

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