Police officers qualified to use a taser
Mark Hanna made this Official Information request to New Zealand Police
The request was successful.
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koutou,
Recently, information on the number of unintentional discharges and TOR events involving firearms and tasers was released to me by NZ Police (ref 16/7758/5, one aspect of this request is still ongoing).
In analysing the data on taser use, I have noticed that the trend appears to have changed around late 2012. I am trying to determine what might have caused this. One hypothesis I am pursuing is that the number of police qualified to use tasers may have reached a plateau around this point, possibly due to saturation. To test this, I would like to request the following information:
1. Please release the total number of police officers qualified to use a taser, broken down by month since tasers were first introduced until the last month for which data is available.
1a. If there are multiple levels of qualification regarding tasers, please also break the data down by qualification.
2. Please release the number of police officers who are eligible to be qualified to use a taser, regardless of whether they hold a qualification or not.
Please release this information as a spreadsheet, preferably in CSV or XSLX format.
I'm not certain of the best way to word part 2 of my request, but my intention is to use this as a baseline for data on the number of qualified officers. I'd be happy to be consulted on regarding this part of my request if you believe different information would better suit my intended purpose.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: THOMSON, Raewyn
New Zealand Police
Dear Mr Hanna
On behalf of the Commissioner I acknowledge receipt of your official
information Act request of 18 March 2017. You have asked for information
about Police officers qualified to use a taser.
Your request is being actioned pursuant to the Official information Act
1982.
Yours sincerely
[1]New Zealand Raewyn Thomson
Police Logo 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
===============================================================
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From: ROSS, Jason
New Zealand Police
Mr Mark Hana….
On 18^th March you requested information from the NZPOL about Taser
training. Your request came in three parts. Part 1a and 2 requests are
fine. Part 1 request is for Taser training information broken down by
month since Tasers were introduced….
NZPOL don’t currently have that information broken down by month, it
doesn’t exist in that format. We can aggregate that information by year
since Taser was introduced.
Do you wish to revise information request 1 to Taser training broken down
by year since Tasers were introduced?
Please advise whether you wish to revise your request ASAP as any delay
will impact on the ability to fulfil this request within the OIA
timeframe.
Regards
Inspector Jason Ross
Manager: Capability
===============================================================
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
From: Mark Hanna
Tēnā koe Jason,
Thanks for getting back to me for clarification on this.
I'm happy to get information broken down by year instead of month for part 1 of my request if that's the most granular data that's available.
I'm sure this will be included in the response anyway, but just to be explicit please also include a clarification on the definition of a year for this data (e.g. 1st January - 31st December, or 1st April - 31st March etc).
Since part 2 is intended to be used as a baseline of comparison for part 1, I'm happy for the breakdown of this information to be the same as for part 1.
Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna
From: THOMSON, Raewyn
New Zealand Police
Dear Mr Hanna
I refer to your Official Information Act request of 18 March 2017. You
requested information about Police officers qualified to use a taser.
Pursuant to section 15A of the Official Information Act 1982, I advise you
of the requirement to extend the time limit to respond to your requests.
The period of the extension is until 20 April 2017.
The reason for the extension is that the time required for the
consultations necessary to make a decision on the request, is such that a
proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the Official Information Act
1982, to ask the Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision to extend
the time limit for deciding upon your request.
Yours sincerely
[1]New Zealand Raewyn Thomson
Police Logo 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
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2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.police.govt.nz/
From: MCMAHON, Teresa
New Zealand Police
Dear Mr Hanna
I attach the reply to an information request you made of Police.
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
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