IR-01-25-40822
2 December 2025
S.I
[FYI request #32785 email]
Tēnā koe
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 8 November 2025,
in which you requested:
According to a RNZ news article
(https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/499181/new-police-intelligence-tool-
speedily-sending-information-on-risk-to-frontline-officers) - 'SearchX is the
intel igence system behind the Tactical Response Model or TRM, launched in
March 2023'.
I am requesting all documentation & information including, but not limited to,
training manuals, guidelines, promotional material, example or sample literature,
police policy etc related to SearchX and it's use by NZ Police.
The documents you have requested in relation to SearchX are operational in nature and
therefore refused under section 6(c) of the OIA as the making available of the information
requested would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the
prevention, investigation, and detection of offences and the right to a fair trial.
By way of background, managing information wel is a critical component of effective
policing, including delivering successful crime prevention and the safety of frontline
Police.
Operational systems are used for frontline Policing activities and other tasks that support
them, for example, the National Intelligence Application (NIA) is used to manage records
of offences, incidents, locations, people, and vehicles. It provides workflow support for
cases from collection of the initial case details through to case closure.
Other key operational systems also incorporate information and records management
aspects such as those for response and deployment, major investigations, criminal
intel igence, infringement processing, non‐urgent crime reporting, emergency
management, forensic photography, and mobility applications.
Additional applications with new capabilities had also been introduced, such as an
information Management Technology to help extend the functionality of NIA.
These systems that hold the information are often linked in complex ways. Prior to
Search X, analysts (usually working under time pressure) used Business Objects to
search NIA, and IBM Watson Explorer to search Police data bases, neither of which
linked information together quickly.
Thus, the Search X project sought ways to enable a faster and more efficient means to
compile and present that information to analysts in a user-friendly way.
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
Search X uses existing technology that Police already has access to – i2 and IBM
Watson Explorer – but utilises it better and shows links that analysts and investigators
can analyse. Although Search X software enables the process to be automated, it is not a
new Ai technology.
To present the NIA information in a more user-friendly way, the i2 legacy software (a link
visualiser and analytics application that had been used by Police for decades) was used
to provide the information in a chart to enable analysts to quickly
see connections, for
example, between an offender, a location, a victim, or a vehicle.
IBM Watson Explorer also has some simple intelligence that simplifies text searches: it
understands that some words have multiple common endings and so treats them as the
same word; it understands common spel ing mistakes; and it understands that some
words may or may not be hyphenated. This flexibility makes it a useful search tool when
analysts need to quickly find information.
i2, a link visualiser and analytics application already used by Police, is being used to
present this information from NIA. By laying out this information visually, we can see
connections, for example, between an offender, a location, a victim, or a vehicle.
Although it presents the final product in a more readable way this is stil a technical
process.
In summary, the SearchX project had two workstreams to leverage the existing Police
applications (i2 and IBM Watson Explorer); one was to deliver a fit for purpose interface
from NIA to i2, and the other, to deliver a ful text search capability across the NIA
narrative content, including attachments.
Please see the links below relating to IBM Watson Explorer and i2:
Default Keywords and Operators - IBM Documentation
i2 Group | Link analysis software | Discover, create & exploit actionable intel igence
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
Nāku noa, nā
Ashley Johnston
Director (Acting): National Intel igence Centre
Police National Headquarters
