IR-01-25-20915
2 July 2025
F Smith
[FYI request #31173 email]
Tēnā koe F Smith,
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 5 June 2025. You
requested:
I'm after the information on how police decides public interest when it comes
to police employees. Cases like when it ends up on media.
Things like when a police officer stomps on a person and isn't charged due to
not in the public interest. Like I said. Any polices, police manual and other
information on how this public interest works and what not.
When determining whether the public interest requires a prosecution as a response to
offending, Police investigators and prosecutors rely on guidance provided by the Solicitor
General through the Solicitor-General’s Prosecution Guidelines (SGPG). The guidelines
are availabl
e online. Furthermore, the Police policy “Police Prosecution Service –
statement of policy and practice” links the actions of the Police Prosecutions Service
(PPS) with the SGPG. A copy of this policy is attached, and this is also available on the
NZ Police websit
e here.
Once a criminal investigation of a Police employee has been completed, the investigation
is reviewed by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). The decision about
whether a criminal charge wil be laid is then made by the Criminal Charging Advisory
Panel (CCAP). The Terms of Reference for CCAP includes “
The primary responsibility of
CCAP is to determine if an employee should be criminally charged and the appropriate
charge (if any) taking into consideration the Solicitor General’s Prosecution Guidelines”.
CCAP is led by Senior Executive members at the Assistant Commissioner level, and
supported by the Director: Resolutions, Director: Integrity and Conduct, and the PPS
National Legal Counsel. Along with consideration of the IPCA review, CCAP must
consider the Solicitor-General’s Prosecution Guidelines, including the public interest test
when considering all alleged criminality by Police employees.
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.
Nāku noa, nā
Acting Superintendent Wil Loughrin
Director: Integrity and Conduct
New Zealand Police
Proactively released by New Zealand Police
®� ,·
Po tee
Instructions
Police Prosecution Service - Statement of policy and practice
This document was current as at 17 April 2023. Police policies are regularly reviewed and updated.
The most current version of Police policies are available from www.police.govt.nz
