IR-01-25-28140
27 August 2025
Newara McFarlane
[FYI request #31876 email]
Dear Newara
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 4 August 2025. You
requested:
I would like to request any incident reports, communications, or callouts
recorded by New Zealand Police in relation to the U.S. Consulate General
and/or the Citigroup building located at 23 Customs Street West, Auckland
Central, Auckland 1010 between the date of 19, July 2025 to the 2, August
2025.
Specifically, I am interested in whether any attempted arson or threat to the
building occurred that led to the doors being boarded up between above
mentioned dates.
Police attended and assisted a fire incident callout on 19 July 2025 at 23 Customs Street
West, Auckland CBD – CITIGROUP Centre. The fire did not specially occur to the office
of the U.S. Consulate General.
As the police case is currently before the courts, your request is refused accordingly for
the following reasons, as the making available of that information would be likely to
• s6(c) - prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention,
investigation, and detection of offences, and the right to a fair trial.
• s9(2)(a) - protect the privacy of natural persons.
Police were not involved in the decision making for the doors being boarded up between
the dates stated above. Therefore, we are unable to comment on this part of your query.
Police considers the interests requiring protection by withholding the information are not
outweighed by any public interest in release of the information.
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.
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.
Yours sincerely
Inspector Beth Houliston
Auckland Central Area Prevention Manager
New Zealand Police
