Strip Searches
Ti Lamusse made this Official Information request to New Zealand Police
The request was partially successful.
From: Ti Lamusse
Dear New Zealand Police,
I am interested in the number of strip searches conducted by the New Zealand police.
As far as records go back, please provide the following information:
1) the total number of strip searches conducted by the NZ police, broken down by year and month
2) broken down by gender of the person being searched
3) broken down by ethnicity
4) please also provide the total number of dangerous or unlawful items found through a strip search.
5) please provide any data around the number charges laid against people who have been strip-searched, as a result of their strip-search
Yours faithfully,
Ti Lamusse
From: Ti Lamusse
Dear New Zealand Police,
Please be aware this OIA request is now overdue.
Yours faithfully,
Ti Lamusse
New Zealand Police
Evening,
Please send all OIA request through the police website directed to a
district -
[1]https://forms.police.govt.nz/oiarequest
Kind regards,
NZ Police
-----Ti Lamusse <[FOI #4555 email]> wrote:
-----
To: OIA/LGOIMA requests at New Zealand Police <[New Zealand Police request email]>
From: Ti Lamusse <[FOI #4555 email]>
Date: 06/10/2016 01:32PM
Subject: Re: Official Information request - Strip Searches
Dear New Zealand Police,
Please be aware this OIA request is now overdue.
Yours faithfully,
Ti Lamusse
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #4555 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[2]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.
show quoted sections
From: Ti Lamusse
Dear New Zealand Police,
Please be aware that under the Official Information Act, I can request information in any form, including over twitter and verbally. I have legitimately requested information. You are now in breach of the Official Information Act, as a reply was due four days ago. I expect a prompt response.
Yours faithfully,
Ti Lamusse
From: MCMAHON, Teresa
New Zealand Police
Dear Ti Lamusse
We have been advised that you made an official information request
relating to strip searches and that this request is now overdue.
I apologise for the delay. We have located your request via FYI and will
now process it as quickly as possible.
You have the right to complain to the Ombudsman about the delay.
Yours sincerely
Ministerial Services , Police National Headquarters, 180 Molesworth
Street, Wellington, [1]www.police.govt.nz
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately
References
Visible links
1. http://www.police.govt.nz/
From: SEDGWICK, Alexandria
New Zealand Police
Dear Ti
I have been asked to send you the attached response to your request of 5
September 2016. On behalf of Police, I sincerely apologise for the delay
in receiving a response to your request.
Kind regards
[1]http://nzpintranet/resources/Secure%20Im... Ali Sedgwick
Ministerial Services Advisor |
Ministerial Services | New Zealand
Police
E:
[2][email address]
Police National Headquarters, 180
Molesworth Street, Thorndon, PO Box
3017, Wellington 6011
[3]www.police.govt.nz
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately
References
Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.police.govt.nz/
Ti Lamusse left an annotation ()
Thanks for that Mark. I will reply with this information.
From: Ti Lamusse
Dear SEDGWICK, Alexandria,
By refusing sections of this request under section 18(f) without first consulting me to see if the request could be altered in a way that would allow the information requested to be provided, the New Zealand Police may not have followed the requirements of the Official Information Act.
The Ombudsman's guidance on administrative reasons for refusing requests makes the requirements surrounding refusal under section 18(f) clear: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...
"If a request is likely to be refused under section 18(e) or (f), the Department, Minister of the Crown, or organisation must, before that request is refused, consider whether consulting with the person who made the request would assist that person to make the request in a form that would remove the reason for the refusal."
Please consider this request still open. I expect you to contact me in order to make sure that the Official Information Act is complied with.
Yours sincerely,
Ti Lamusse
From: Ti Lamusse
Dear SEDGWICK, Alexandria,
Please be aware I have not received an acknowledgement of my message.
Yours sincerely,
Ti Lamusse
From: SEDGWICK, Alexandria
New Zealand Police
Dear Ti
Apologies for not sending an acknowledgement email sooner. Please be assured that your email was passed onto the workgroup who prepared the response. I was advised they would respond directly to you and I will confirm progress today.
Kind regards
Ali Sedgwick
Ministerial Services Advisor | Ministerial Services | New Zealand Police
E: [email address]
Police National Headquarters, 180 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, PO Box 3017, Wellington 6011 www.police.govt.nz
show quoted sections
From: MCGROGAN, James
New Zealand Police
Attention: Ti Lamusse,
NZ Police recently responded to a request you made under the Official
Information Act regarding strip searches conducted by Police.
As part of that response, some aspects of your request were refused
pursuant to Section 18(f) OIA, as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research. You have
subsequently rightly pointed out that Police should have consulted with
you, before refusing this request, to see if you could alter your request
in a manner which would not involve substantial collation and research.
To assist you with this, I can advise that our system used for managing
detained persons records when a strip search has been conducted (and from
there, the sex and ethnicity of the detained person can be identified).
The system however does not record the outcome of a strip search,
including whether any unlawful items were found and whether any charges
were laid.
To find this information, would require searching through the history of
every one of the 41970 persons strip searched, to see if any charges were
laid at the same time as the strip search, which would indicate that
unlawful items may have been found as a result of that strip search. This
would require substantial research, which is why the request was refused.
Could you please advise me if would like to modify your original
information request so that it would not involve substantial collation or
research.
Thanks and regards,
Inspector Jimi McGrogan
Operations Manager
New Zealand Police | Response & Operations | PNHQ | PO Box 3017 |
Wellington, NZ
DDI:Landline +64 4 470 7013 | Extn: 44513 | Mob: +64 21 1909915 |
DDI: Landline-Mob: +64 4 2123869
email: [1]mailto:[email address]
===============================================================
WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
From: Ti Lamusse
Dear MCGROGAN, James,
Thank you for your reply. I will lay a complaint with the ombudsman instead.
Yours sincerely,
Ti Lamusse
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this request
Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
By refusing sections of this request under section 18(f) without first consulting the requester to see if the request could be altered in a way that would allow the information requested to be provided, the New Zealand Police may not have followed the requirements of the Official Information Act.
The Ombudsman's guidance on administrative reasons for refusing requests makes the requirements surrounding refusal under section 18(f) clear: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...
"If a request is likely to be refused under section 18(e) or (f), the Department, Minister of the Crown, or organisation must, before that request is refused, consider whether consulting with the person who made the request would assist that person to make the request in a form that would remove the reason for the refusal."
Link to this