Evidence more police will reduce crime
Mark Hanna made this Official Information request to Minister of Police
The request was successful.
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā Koe Minister Bennett,
In a media release today (2nd February 2017) titled "Ten per cent more police to reduce crime", you said:
"A $503 million package which includes increasing police staff and resources across the country will reduce crime and make our communities safer."
Please release the evidence and advice on which the statement that this package "will reduce crime" and that it will "make our communities safer" is based.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: P Bennett (MIN)
Minister of Police
Dear correspondent
On behalf of Hon Paula Bennett, thank you for your email.
While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important and all
messages are carefully read and considered, it is not possible to provide
a personal response to every email which is received.
Where the Minister has portfolio responsibility for the issues that you
have raised, your correspondence will be considered and responded to where
appropriate.
(Please note that this acknowledgement is an automatically generated
email.)
Regards
Office of Hon Paula Bennett
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From: P Bennett (MIN)
Minister of Police
Tēnā koe Mark,
On behalf of Hon Paula Bennett, Minister of Police, thank you for your email of 2 February 2017.
You have sought information as follows;
• In regards to the "$503 million package which includes increasing police staff and resources across the country will reduce crime and make our communities safer", please release the evidence and advice on which the statement that this package "will reduce crime" and that it will "make our communities safer" is based.
Your request will be considered under the requirements of the Official Information Act 1982 and you can expect a reply in due course.
Ngā mihi,
Jess
Jess van Haarlem
Private Secretary
Office of Hon Paula Bennett
Deputy Prime Minister|Minister of State Services | Minister for Women | Minister of Tourism | Minister of Police | Minister for Climate Change Issues | MP for Upper Harbour Parliament Buildings
Executive Wing 7.6, Parliament Buildings| Private Bag 18888 | Wellington 6160
Disclaimer: "The information contained in this document is confidential to the addressee(s) and may be legally privileged. Any view or opinions expressed are those of the author and may not be those of the organisation to which the author belongs. If you receive this email message in error please delete it and notify me. Thank you."
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Hanna [mailto:[FYI request #5323 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 2 February 2017 5:11 p.m.
To: P Bennett (MIN)
Subject: Official Information request - Evidence more police will reduce crime
Tēnā Koe Minister Bennett,
In a media release today (2nd February 2017) titled "Ten per cent more police to reduce crime", you said:
"A $503 million package which includes increasing police staff and resources across the country will reduce crime and make our communities safer."
Please release the evidence and advice on which the statement that this package "will reduce crime" and that it will "make our communities safer" is based.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
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Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
I have laid the following complaint with the Ombudsman:
==========
Tēnā koe,
I would like to lodge a formal complaint regarding an overdue response to a request for official information.
The Minister of Police received a request for official information from me on 2017/02/02. The final day of the 20 working days allowable by the Official Information Act was 2017/03/03, however this date has now passed and I have not yet received a response.
Here is a brief timeline of all correspondence regarding this request to date:
2017/02/02 - The Minister of Police received my request
2017/02/02 - I received an acknowledgement of receipt of my request from the Minister of Police
2017/02/07 - I received a further acknowledgement from the Minister of Police that my request was being processed
There has been no further correspondence to date.
All correspondence between myself and the Minister of Police regarding this complaint can be found on the FYI website at this URL:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/5323-evidence...
I have also attached a zip file containing all correspondence I have had with the Minister of Police regarding this request. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if any part of my complaint is unclear, or if you require any more information from me.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā Koe,
The 20 working days allowable under the Official Information Act have elapsed as of last Friday, and I have yet to receive a response further than an acknowledgement that my request has been received and is being processed. As this request is now overdue, a complaint has been lodged with the Ombudsman.
Please release the requested information as soon as possible.
Nāku, nā,
Mark Hanna
From: Ali Sedgwick
Good afternoon Mr Hanna
Please find attached a reply to your Official information request dated 2
February 2017.
Kind Regards
Ali Sedgwick
Part Time Private Secretary (Police) | Office of Hon Paula Bennett |
Minister of Police
7.6 Executive Wing | Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Email: [1][email address]
[2]www.beehive.govt.nz
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References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koe Ali Sedgwick,
I'm disappointed that this response was not provided within the 20 working days allowable under the Official Information Act, and as I communicated previously a complaint has been laid with the Ombudsman regarding this.
Please clarify the meaning of "soon", as in "I will soon release other documents". Are we talking hours, days, weeks, months? Is a date set for when these documents will be released?
Nāku, nā,
Mark Hanna
From: Ali Sedgwick
I am part time and not in the office right now. If the matter is urgent,
please contact Inspector Penno on [email address] otherwise
I will respond to your email when when I am next in the office.
Kind regards
Ali Sedgwick
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Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
The Ombudsman's guidance on section 18(d) of the Official Information Act: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...
"As to what is meant by “soon” in the context of section 18(d), this is a question of fact to be determined in the circumstances of the case. The section presupposes, however, an element of certainty about when the information will become publicly available. In these circumstances, it is good practice to provide the requester with a specific date of release or to explain the perceived difficulty in meeting the request immediately.
Section 18(d) should not be relied upon if to do so would undermine the purposes of the OIA. Those purposes are set out in section 4. For example, it should not be used to
delay the release of information which is intended to be incorporated in other material which, although to be made public at a later date, may still require the making of other
policy decisions."
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koe Minister Bennett,
Ten days ago, I sent a follow-up question to Ali Sedgwick regarding when the information I had been assured would be made public "soon" would be released. I have yet to receive a response.
Have the documents that were referred to been released yet? If not, please clarify exactly when they will be released.
As I'm sure you know, the Ombudsman's guidelines on Section 18 of the Official Information Act clarify that it is best practice to provide this information when refusing a request because the requested information will soon be made publicly available: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...
"As to what is meant by “soon” in the context of section 18(d), this is a question of fact to be determined in the circumstances of the case. The section presupposes, however, an element of certainty about when the information will become publicly available. In these circumstances, it is good practice to provide the requester with a specific date of release or to explain the perceived difficulty in meeting the request immediately.
Section 18(d) should not be relied upon if to do so would undermine the purposes of the OIA. Those purposes are set out in section 4. For example, it should not be used to delay the release of information which is intended to be incorporated in other material which, although to be made public at a later date, may still require the making of other policy decisions."
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koe Minister Bennett,
It has now been three weeks since I asked for clarification on when the documents which I have been told will be released "soon" will actually be released. I have yet to hear any response from yourself or from your secretary Ali Sedgwick.
Have the documents that were referred to been released yet? If not, please clarify exactly when they will be released.
Nāku, nā,
Mark Hanna
Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
I have sent the following update on my complaint to the Ombudsman:
==========
Tēnā koe,
This is an update on the request to the Minister of Police that is the subject of complaint 448574.
My original complaint regarded the lateness of the response. I would now like to add the grounds that section 18(d) of the Official Information Act is being abused.
Here is a brief timeline of the correspondence regarding this request that has happened since I lodged my complaint:
2017/03/06 - I sent a reminder to the Minister of Police that the allowable 20 working days had elapsed
2017/03/08 - I received a response from Ali Sedgwick, Private Secretary to the Minister of Police. Part of my request was denied citing section 18(d) of the Official Information Act as documents I had requested would be released “soon”
2017/03/08 - I asked for clarification on exactly when these documents would be released
2017/03/08 - I received an automatic reply from Ali Sedgwick that she was not in the office
2017/03/18 - I sent a follow-up message to the Minister of Police asking for clarification on exactly when these documents would be released
2017/03/29 - I sent a second follow-up message to the Minister of Police asking for clarification on exactly when these documents would be released
As I noted in my first follow-up message to the Minister of Police, I am aware that the Ombudsman’s guidelines on section 18(d) note that:
"As to what is meant by “soon” in the context of section 18(d), this is a question of fact to be determined in the circumstances of the case. The section presupposes, however, an element of certainty about when the information will become publicly available. In these circumstances, it is good practice to provide the requester with a specific date of release or to explain the perceived difficulty in meeting the request immediately.
Section 18(d) should not be relied upon if to do so would undermine the purposes of the OIA. Those purposes are set out in section 4. For example, it should not be used to delay the release of information which is intended to be incorporated in other material which, although to be made public at a later date, may still require the making of other policy decisions."
It has now been three weeks since I was told the documents I had requested would be released “soon”, and I have asked on three separate occasions for clarification. I have yet to hear any clarification on when these documents will be released, or if they have been released already. I believe this is inconsistent with how section 18(d) of the Official Information Act should be used.
All correspondence regarding this request can be found on the FYI website at this URL:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/5323-evidence...
I have attached a zip file of all correspondence I have had regarding this request since I initially lodged my complaint with the Ombudsman. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if any part of this extension to my complaint is unclear, or if you require any more information from me.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: Jeff Penno
Good evening Mr Hanna,
Further to the letter (attached) you received on 8th March 2017 this matter is in the very final stages of finalisation.
The draft has been completed and it is regrettably taking slightly longer than hoped for all relevant people to review the documents and for the matter to progress through the sign out procedure.
The release of these documents will occur very shortly unfortunately I am unable to give the exact date currently.
I apologise for the delay in getting this information made public.
Regards,
Jeff Penno
Jeff Penno
Private Secretary (Police) | Office of Hon. Paula Bennett | Minister of Police
7.6 Executive Wing | Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Email: [email address]
www.beehive.govt.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Hanna [mailto:[FOI #5323 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 29 March 2017 10:10 a.m.
To: P Bennett (MIN)
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Evidence more police will reduce crime
Tēnā koe Minister Bennett,
It has now been three weeks since I asked for clarification on when the documents which I have been told will be released "soon" will actually be released. I have yet to hear any response from yourself or from your secretary Ali Sedgwick.
Have the documents that were referred to been released yet? If not, please clarify exactly when they will be released.
Nāku, nā,
Mark Hanna
-----Original Message-----
Tēnā koe Mark,
On behalf of Hon Paula Bennett, Minister of Police, thank you for your email of 2 February 2017.
You have sought information as follows;
• In regards to the "$503 million package which includes increasing police staff and resources across the country will reduce crime and make our communities safer", please release the evidence and advice on which the statement that this package "will reduce crime" and that it will "make our communities safer" is based.
Your request will be considered under the requirements of the Official Information Act 1982 and you can expect a reply in due course.
Ngā mihi,
Jess
Jess van Haarlem
Private Secretary
Office of Hon Paula Bennett
Deputy Prime Minister|Minister of State Services | Minister for Women | Minister of Tourism | Minister of Police | Minister for Climate Change Issues | MP for Upper Harbour Parliament Buildings Executive Wing 7.6, Parliament Buildings| Private Bag 18888 | Wellington 6160
Disclaimer: "The information contained in this document is confidential to the addressee(s) and may be legally privileged. Any view or opinions expressed are those of the author and may not be those of the organisation to which the author belongs. If you receive this email message in error please delete it and notify me. Thank you."
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #5323 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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hide quoted sections
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koe Jeff Penno,
As I stated in an earlier email to Minister Bennett regarding this request, the Ombudsman's guidance on section 18(d) of the Official Information Act is clear that requests should only be refused because the requested information will be made public "soon" if there is "an element of certainty about when the information will become available"[1].
As there appears to have been no certainty at the time my request was refused regarding when the documents will be made public, it appears to me that this was an inappropriate use of section 18(d) of the Official Information Act. Even now, three weeks later, you are unable to tell me when the documents will be released. I think it is inconsistent with the Ombudsman's guidelines to refuse my request citing section 18(d) under these circumstances.
While I would still appreciate being informed when the finalised documents are released and where they can be found, they should have been released to me in their draft form at the time when I originally requested them 39 working days ago.
Please release these documents to me in their current form, with urgency.
Nāku, nā,
Mark Hanna
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koe Mr Penno,
It has been nearly two weeks now since you told me the documents I had requested on the 2nd of February would be released "very shortly". At that time, I requested again that you release them to me urgently in their current form.
I have yet to hear any response from you, either to tell me the documents have been made public or to acknowledge my request. I'm not sure what has delayed you, but I would appreciate a response as soon as practicable.
Nāku, na,
Mark Hanna
From: Jeff Penno
Good afternoon Mr Hanna,
Please accept my apologise for delay in replay but I wanted to ensure I had some hard facts to pass on due to not being able to do so before with regards to the release.
These documents are now on line and were published late yesterday afternoon.
The link is below,
https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publ...
Regards,
Jeff Penno
Jeff Penno
Private Secretary (Police) | Office of Hon. Paula Bennett | Minister of Police
7.6 Executive Wing | Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Email: [email address]
www.beehive.govt.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Hanna [mailto:[FYI request #5323 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 April 2017 2:29 p.m.
To: Jeff Penno
Subject: Re: FW: Official Information request - Evidence more police will reduce crime
Tēnā koe Mr Penno,
It has been nearly two weeks now since you told me the documents I had requested on the 2nd of February would be released "very shortly". At that time, I requested again that you release them to me urgently in their current form.
I have yet to hear any response from you, either to tell me the documents have been made public or to acknowledge my request. I'm not sure what has delayed you, but I would appreciate a response as soon as practicable.
Nāku, na,
Mark Hanna
-----Original Message-----
Good evening Mr Hanna,
Further to the letter (attached) you received on 8th March 2017 this matter is in the very final stages of finalisation.
The draft has been completed and it is regrettably taking slightly longer than hoped for all relevant people to review the documents and for the matter to progress through the sign out procedure.
The release of these documents will occur very shortly unfortunately I am unable to give the exact date currently.
I apologise for the delay in getting this information made public.
Regards,
Jeff Penno
Jeff Penno
Private Secretary (Police) | Office of Hon. Paula Bennett | Minister of Police
7.6 Executive Wing | Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Email: [email address]
www.beehive.govt.nz
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #5323 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________
hide quoted sections
Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
My complaint to the Ombudsman regarding how this request was handled has now been resolved. Here are the relevant sections of their correspondence to me regarding this complaint:
"I am informed that your request was received by the Minister on 2 February 2017. By my calculation, a decision should have been made and communicated to you by 3 March 2017 at the latest. However, I understand that no decision as made on your request by that date.
As a result, I have formed the final opinion that there has been a failure to meet the requirements imposed by the OIA.
I understood that you now have the response sought, and therefore I have not found it necessary to make a recommendation in this case. However, I have reminded the Minister that timeliness, and compliance with the OIA, are fundamental obligations. I note that this year my Office will begin a programme of proactive investigations into agencies' official information practices, and the frequency of delay complaints such as yours will be one factor taken into account in deciding which agencies will be included in that programme."
"Having considered all the issues raised, I have now formed the opinion that the Minister should not have refused your request under section 18(d) of the OIA. The attached Appendix is an extract of my letter to the Minister, regarding your request which was refused under section 18(d) of the OIA.
The Minister has accepted my opinion in respect of both matters and noted my advice around managing OIA requests. In the circumstances, I do not intend to make a recommendation in this case."
"Appendix 1. Extract from my letter to the Minister
My provisional opinion
In this case, the decision to refuse the request under section 18(d) does not appear justified.
Given that the information is now publicly available, I do not consider it necessary to make any recommendation in this case. However, I would like to suggest that in future cases where section 18(d) is being considered as a reason for refusal, the following points are taken into account:
- Releasing the information to requestors as soon as reasonably practicable particularly where no harm or prejudice has been identified in the release of the information;
- Providing requestors with a specific date (or a date by which) it is expected that the information will be released; and
- Notifying requestors by providing a link to the information when it becomes known that the release of the information is imminent."
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Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
Here is a link to the media release mentioned in my request: https://beehive.govt.nz/release/ten-cent...
Link to this