To the New Zealand Police OIA Services,

This is a request for information under the Official Information Act 1982.

I am seeking data regarding the recovery of stolen bicycles and e-bikes where tracking technology was utilised by the victim. In light of the publicly reported case in January 2024 (Auckland, Patrick Reynolds e-bike theft), where Police declined to act despite live GPS and CCTV data, I request the following for the last three calendar years (2023, 2024, and 2025):

(1) The total number of reported bicycle/e-bike thefts where the victim provided GPS, 4G, or Bluetooth tracking data to the Police.

(2) The number of those cases where a Search Warrant was subsequently applied for based on that tracking data.

(3) The number of those cases where Warrantless Entry powers (Search and Surveillance Act 2012) were exercised to recover the asset.

(4) The number of cases where Police attended the location provided by a tracker but declined to enter the premises, citing legislative barriers or a lack of "evidentiary sufficiency" as per the official statement in the January 2024 Reynolds case.

(5) Any internal policy documents, training manuals, or "standard operating procedures" (SOPs) provided to frontline officers specifically addressing the minimum evidentiary threshold required to act on consumer-grade tracking data.

Privacy and Eligibility Statement:

I am a New Zealand resident and am eligible to make this request under Section 12 of the OIA.

Please redact my personal contact details (phone number and address) before publishing the final response.

I request that all formal correspondence and the final decision remain on this public FYI.org.nz thread to maintain a transparent record.

Regards,
Grant Chin.