Child Sexual Abuse Guidelines
Ross Francis made this Official Information request to New Zealand Police
Response to this request is long overdue. By law New Zealand Police should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Ross Francis
Dear New Zealand Police,
I would like to make the following request.
The Joint CYPS and Police Operating Guidelines for Evidential and Diagnostic Interviewing, dated May 1996, state at 4.3.1: “The interviewer should only conduct one evidential interview. Special circumstances may require more than one interview.” The Policy and Guidelines for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse and Serious Child Physical Abuse, dated March 1989, state at 6.2.1: “Skilled interviewing, utilising a team approach and video taped recording, should mean that in most instances only one detailed interview with the child will be necessary. In some instances, however, it may be necessary to establish a trusting relationship with the child over several interviews before the child feels free to divulge detailed information.”
Were the guidelines at 6.2.1 in effect between March 1989 to May 1996, or was there a change to the guidelines prior to May 1996? Please provide me with copies of any changes to the guidelines between 1989 and 1996.Was the recommendation, at 4.3.1, that the interviewer should conduct only one interview, introduced in May 1996 or prior to that date? If prior, when was it introduced?
Please provide me with a copy of the relevant section(s) of the most recent Police Operating Guidelines for Evidential and Diagnostic Interviewing in relation to the number of evidential interviews that should be conducted. Do the most recent guidelines encourage or allow interviewers to establish a relationship with a non-disclosing (and potentially non-abused) child over several interviews, and what are the risks (if any) of exposing such a child to multiple interviews?
The Policy and Guidelines for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse and Serious Child Physical Abuse, dated March 1989, were based on, among other things, papers published by the National Committee on Child Abuse. Please provide me with a copy of those papers.
Please contact me if you have any queries regarding this request.
Yours faithfully,
Ross Francis
New Zealand Police
'Do not reply to this message, this email message has been sent from an
un-monitored email address'
Thank you for your email, please go to the police website and submit the
form for the information you require.
Information that may assist you is available through the following link:
[1]http://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publi...
Please email us again at [2][New Zealand Police request email] if we can help you
any further.
Regards
New Zealand Police
'Do not reply to this message, this email message has been sent from an
un-monitored 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. http://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publi...
2. mailto:[New Zealand Police request email]
From: MCMAHON, Teresa
New Zealand Police
Dear Mr Francis
I refer to your request of 21 June 2018 for the following information:
The Joint CYPS and Police Operating Guidelines for Evidential and
Diagnostic Interviewing, dated May 1996, state at 4.3.1: “The interviewer
should only conduct one evidential interview. Special circumstances may
require more than one interview.” The Policy and Guidelines for the
Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse and Serious Child Physical Abuse,
dated March 1989, state at 6.2.1: “Skilled interviewing, utilising a team
approach and video taped recording, should mean that in most instances
only one detailed interview with the child will be necessary. In some
instances, however, it may be necessary to establish a trusting
relationship with the child over several interviews before the child feels
free to divulge detailed information.”
Were the guidelines at 6.2.1 in effect between March 1989 to May 1996, or
was there a change to the guidelines prior to May 1996? Please provide me
with copies of any changes to the guidelines between 1989 and 1996.Was the
recommendation, at 4.3.1, that the interviewer should conduct only one
interview, introduced in May 1996 or prior to that date? If prior, when
was it introduced?
Please provide me with a copy of the relevant section(s) of the most
recent Police Operating Guidelines for Evidential and Diagnostic
Interviewing in relation to the number of evidential interviews that
should be conducted. Do the most recent guidelines encourage or allow
interviewers to establish a relationship with a non-disclosing (and
potentially non-abused) child over several interviews, and what are the
risks (if any) of exposing such a child to multiple interviews?
The Policy and Guidelines for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse and
Serious Child Physical Abuse, dated March 1989, were based on, among other
things, papers published by the National Committee on Child Abuse. Please
provide me with a copy of those papers.
Police apologises for the delay in appropriately acknowledging and
responding to your request. I understand that you have exercised your
right to seek an investigation by the Ombudsman into the delay. Police
will provide the Ombudsman with a copy of our response to you and any
other correspondence related to your request, including this email.
Yours sincerely
Teresa McMahon
Ministerial Services | New Zealand Police National Headquarters, 180
Molesworth St, Thorndon, PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140
===============================================================
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
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
Oliver Lineham (FYI.org.nz volunteer) left an annotation ()
Ross, you are not required to use the Police own request form; by law they must respond to requests in any form - so they should have responded to your request here on FYI.
As it's clear they weren't planning to respond through FYI, and the due date has now lapsed, I am marking this request as "refused" (as failing to respond is a "deemed refusal"). However you are still able to follow up with them here if you want to pursue your request.
Link to this