20 December 2018
Our Reference: IR-01-18-16744
Mr Mark Hanna
[FYI request #9074 email]
Dear Mr Hanna
I am writing to you in response to your request submitted 19 November 2018. You
requested:
Please release the following information:
1. TOR data for the 1 January - 30 June 2018 reporting period, in the same format as
was released for the July-December 2017 reporting period (ref IR-01-18-5190).
2. The number, and percentage, of the total set of TOR events in this period that
have completed the review process. For example, in the data for July-December
2017 released in August 2018 it was reported that there were 2,402 completed TOR
events in the TOR database, which amounted to 93% of all TOR events in the TOR
database during that period.
3. If possible, please specify for each event whether or not it has completed the
review process. I understand that NZ Police has produced some recoded fields in
previous releases, but I’m not sure if this particular information can be easily
extracted. If it would make the request significantly more difficult or time-consuming, I
would be happy for this part to be excluded.
Please also explain any relevant caveats that should be kept in mind when analysing
this information.
Please provide all information, including the response letter, in an accessible,
searchable format. Please provide the TOR data in a machine-readable format such
as CSV or XSLX. I’d be happy if the XSLX format that has been used to release this
data previously is used again.
My response is outlined below:
I have considered your request and have concluded that the work that goes into releasing
complicated raw data such as you have requested and received on two occasions
previously is very time consuming. Based on the last two occasions where Police have
provided this data for you the time before peer review process is 10 – 12 hours of work
preparing the data – which has to be redacted and partly recoded. Furthermore, even when
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
provided, this type of raw data is difficult to understand without the necessary historical,
operational, and policy knowledge. New Zealand Police has a team of specialist analysts
who work with this data on a routine basis, and understand it well.
Owing to the amount of time it takes to provide the data I have decided to implement a
charge for your request on this occasion, as per Ministry of Justice guidelines
(https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/1982-Official-Information-Act-
charging-guidelines.pdf). These state that time spent by staff searching for relevant
material, abstracting and collating, copying, transcribing and supervising access, where the
total time
is in excess of one hour, may incur a charge.
Based on the amount of time it has taken Police to prepare your two previous requests for
the same information from an earlier time period, the likely time taken to respond to your
current request is estimated at between 10-12 hours work. Using the Ministry of Justice
guidelines
(Justice Ministry OIAS charging guidelines) @ $76 per hour (with the first hour
free) this would equate to a cost between $684 and $836.
However, should you have specific questions, our analysts may be able to answer those
more quickly, and we will consider those in accordance with Official Information Act 1982
guidelines.
New Zealand Police now produces TOR data in the form of a calendar year annual Use of
Force report. The annual report covering 2018 will likely be published by April 2019.
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the Official Information Act 1982, to ask the
Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied with the way I have responded
to your request.
Yours sincerely
Superintendent Chris Scahill
National Manager: Response and Operations
