IR-01-25-23879
17 July 2025
Alan Thompson
[FYI request #31426 email]
Dear Alan
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 28 June 2025.
My response to each of your questions are below:
Paragraph 6.3.2 of the NZ SAR Operational Framework (4th Edition 2022) states
that “Unless otherwise required for by international requirements, SAR operations
wil be coordinated using the CIMS Framework”.
The TAIC report on the capsize of the i-Catcher off Kaikoura advises that “Each
Police region had a SAR Squad with specially trained Police officers (SAR
members). SAR members were on a rotational on-call roster to provide 24/7
assistance with the coordination of SAROPs within their region”.
Under the provisions of the Information Act I seek the following information
relating to the NZ Police’s responsibility for Cat 1 SAR incidents and the
application of the NZ Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS) to
manage the response.
1. Of the 12 Police district in New Zealand, how many members of their SAR
Squad have completed CIMS training and hold current CIMS qualifications?
There are 249 Police SAR Squad members (including reserve members) that are
currently trained and certified at CIMS Level 4. A further 17 members are yet to complete
the CIMS Level 4 training. These numbers reflect the total number of Police SAR Squad
members across the 12 Policing Districts (10 Police SAR Districts, with the 3 Auckland
Policing Districts forming the one Tamaki Makaurau SAR District).
2. For the 12 Police district in New Zealand, how many members of their SAR
Squad have completed Incident Control er (IC) CIMS training and hold
current IC qualifications that enable Police to meet the requirements of
6.3.2?
CIMS Level 4 is a pre-requisite certification for Police SAR Squad members who go on to
manage SAR operations and hold Incident Controller roles. There are 185 Police SAR
Squad members across the 12 Policing Districts (10 Police SAR Districts) who are
qualified to be Incident Controllers (Breakdown: Northland 10, Tamaki Makaurau 22,
Waikato 11, BOP 21, Eastern 14, Central 18, Wel ington 14, Tasman 28, Canterbury 24,
Southern 23)
3. What CIMS qualifications did the Police personnel who responded to and/or
were involved in the management of the i-Catcher capsize hold at the time of
that incident?
Police’s SAR personnel and Emergency Communications and Dispatch (ECD) Shift
Commander and Dispatch Team Leader who responded to and / or were involved in the
management of the i-Catcher capsize held the CIMS Level 4 certification. Additional to
the ECD Shift Commander and Dispatch Team Leader, an ECD dispatcher was involved
but they have since left the Police and it is unclear what CIMS certification they held other
than to say that ECD standard operating procedures are based on emergency
management principles, including CIMS.
4. Was CIMS implemented by NZ Police to manage the response to the i-
Catcher capsize?
Yes.
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.
Yours sincerely
Lea Smith
Acting Manager Operations and Emergency Management
New Zealand Police
