Information regarding the community roadwatch form
Hugh Davenport 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: Hugh Davenport
Dear New Zealand Police,
In the last few months, when I have been at the Wellington Central Station submitting 1U Driver Complaint Report forms, the desk staff have insisted that I can "submit these online" and seem hesitant to accept the 1U forms. After questioning, they point me to the community roadwatch form, and say "it goes to the same place". I've been told by numerous sources, including NZ Police that the roadwatch form simply gets a letter sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, and no contact with the driver, and no investigation happens. Whereas the 1U form requires a police investigation, and the driver to be spoken to and warned/fined/convicted. These two approaches appear to have drastically different outcomes.
I would like to request any policy on handling the 1U forms for either NZ Police in general, or for Wellington Central Station in specific, or both depending on whether the policy is a national level or not.
I would like to also request the following for the year 2018:
1) The number of roadwatch submissions for the Wellington region and
a) the number of those submissions that resulted in a letter being sent to the registered owner
b) the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver of the vehicle being spoken to by NZ Police
c) the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver getting an official warning/infringement/conviction or some other negative outcome for the driver.
2) The number of 1U traffic complaints reported for the Wellington region and
a) same as above
b) same as above
c) same as above
If the two numbers differ, I would like to request why the staff on the desk at Wellington Central Station are stating that they are equivalent, and why they are insisting that people use the roadwatch over the 1U forms. I would also like to know what training is taking place so that the desk staff are adequately informed on the differences and stop telling members of the public that they are the same.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear New Zealand Police,
Oh I would also like to add a request for all the differences between the Community Roadwatch and the 1U traffic form in terms of Police processing, investigation, and possible outcomes.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
From: WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah
New Zealand Police
Dear Hugh
I refer to your request of 14 March 2019 as below, which you added to on
15 March 2019 to include:
“Oh I would also like to add a request for all the differences between the
Community Roadwatch and the 1U traffic form in terms of Police processing,
investigation, and possible outcomes.”
Your request is being actioned pursuant to the Official Information Act
1982.
Ngâ mihi
Hannah Wright-McCarthy
Ministerial Services Advisor
Police National Headquarters
E [email address]
[1]wordmark transparent
To: OIA/LGOIMA requests at New Zealand Police
<[2][New Zealand Police request email]>
From: Hugh Davenport <[3][FOI #9857 email]>
Date: 14/03/2019 02:53PM
Subject: Official Information request - Information regarding the
community roadwatch form
Dear New Zealand Police,
In the last few months, when I have been at the Wellington Central Station
submitting 1U Driver Complaint Report forms, the desk staff have insisted
that I can "submit these online" and seem hesitant to accept the 1U forms.
After questioning, they point me to the community roadwatch form, and say
"it goes to the same place". I've been told by numerous sources, including
NZ Police that the roadwatch form simply gets a letter sent to the
registered owner of the vehicle, and no contact with the driver, and no
investigation happens. Whereas the 1U form requires a police
investigation, and the driver to be spoken to and warned/fined/convicted.
These two approaches appear to have drastically different outcomes.
I would like to request any policy on handling the 1U forms for either NZ
Police in general, or for Wellington Central Station in specific, or both
depending on whether the policy is a national level or not.
I would like to also request the following for the year 2018:
1) The number of roadwatch submissions for the Wellington region and
a) the number of those submissions that resulted in a letter being sent to
the registered owner
b) the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver of
the vehicle being spoken to by NZ Police
c) the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver
getting an official warning/infringement/conviction or some other negative
outcome for the driver.
2) The number of 1U traffic complaints reported for the Wellington region
and
a) same as above
b) same as above
c) same as above
If the two numbers differ, I would like to request why the staff on the
desk at Wellington Central Station are stating that they are equivalent,
and why they are insisting that people use the roadwatch over the 1U
forms. I would also like to know what training is taking place so that the
desk staff are adequately informed on the differences and stop telling
members of the public that they are the same.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #9857 email]
Is [5][New Zealand Police request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to New Zealand Police? If so, please contact us using
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page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================
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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From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Just to clarify. The second email adding more to the request was sent on 14th March as well. The exact time (as per the FYI system) was 2019-03-14 14:56:21 +1300. Please ensure that you treat the request from the 14th, not the 15th. It was actually only 4 minutes after the first email, not a day, and nowhere close to midnight.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
From: WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah
New Zealand Police
Hi Hugh
I have done that.
Thank you for the clarification.
Ngā mihi
Hannah Wright-McCarthy
Ministerial Services Advisor
Police National Headquarters
E [email address]
-----Original Message-----
From: Hugh Davenport [mailto:[FYI request #9857 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 21 March 2019 4:57 p.m.
To: WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Correspondence from New Zealand Police
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Just to clarify. The second email adding more to the request was sent on 14th March as well. The exact time (as per the FYI system) was 2019-03-14 14:56:21 +1300. Please ensure that you treat the request from the 14th, not the 15th. It was actually only 4 minutes after the first email, not a day, and nowhere close to midnight.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
-----Original Message-----
Dear Hugh
I refer to your request of 14 March 2019 as below, which you added to on
15 March 2019 to include:
“Oh I would also like to add a request for all the differences between the Community Roadwatch and the 1U traffic form in terms of Police processing, investigation, and possible outcomes.”
Your request is being actioned pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982.
Ngâ mihi
Hannah Wright-McCarthy
Ministerial Services Advisor
Police National Headquarters
E [email address]
[1]wordmark transparent
To: OIA/LGOIMA requests at New Zealand Police <[2][New Zealand Police request email]>
From: Hugh Davenport <[3][FOI #9857 email]>
Date: 14/03/2019 02:53PM
Subject: Official Information request - Information regarding the community roadwatch form
Dear New Zealand Police,
In the last few months, when I have been at the Wellington Central Station submitting 1U Driver Complaint Report forms, the desk staff have insisted that I can "submit these online" and seem hesitant to accept the 1U forms.
After questioning, they point me to the community roadwatch form, and say "it goes to the same place". I've been told by numerous sources, including NZ Police that the roadwatch form simply gets a letter sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, and no contact with the driver, and no
investigation happens. Whereas the 1U form requires a police investigation, and the driver to be spoken to and warned/fined/convicted.
These two approaches appear to have drastically different outcomes.
I would like to request any policy on handling the 1U forms for either NZ Police in general, or for Wellington Central Station in specific, or both depending on whether the policy is a national level or not.
I would like to also request the following for the year 2018:
1) The number of roadwatch submissions for the Wellington region and
a) the number of those submissions that resulted in a letter being sent to the registered owner
b) the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver of the vehicle being spoken to by NZ Police
c) the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver getting an official warning/infringement/conviction or some other negative outcome for the driver.
2) The number of 1U traffic complaints reported for the Wellington region and
a) same as above
b) same as above
c) same as above
If the two numbers differ, I would like to request why the staff on the desk at Wellington Central Station are stating that they are equivalent, and why they are insisting that people use the roadwatch over the 1U forms. I would also like to know what training is taking place so that the desk staff are adequately informed on the differences and stop telling members of the public that they are the same.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #9857 email]
Is [5][New Zealand Police request email] the wrong address for Official Information requests to New Zealand Police? If so, please contact us using this form:
[6]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[7]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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #9857 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================
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
hide quoted sections
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
No worries, thanks for that quick response confirming :)
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Given this is now overdue, and the Police rarely ever respond to follow ups, I have reported this to the Ombudsman.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
From: WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah
New Zealand Police
Hi Hugh
Thank you for your email.
I am aware of your complaints and can confirm that they are being actioned and addressed.
Ngā mihi
Hannah Wright-McCarthy
Ministerial Services Advisor
Police National Headquarters
E [email address]
-----Original Message-----
From: Hugh Davenport [mailto:[FYI request #9857 email]]
Sent: Monday, 15 April 2019 10:49 a.m.
To: WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Correspondence from New Zealand Police
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Given this is now overdue, and the Police rarely ever respond to follow ups, I have reported this to the Ombudsman.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
-----Original Message-----
Hi Hugh
I have done that.
Thank you for the clarification.
Ngā mihi
Hannah Wright-McCarthy
Ministerial Services Advisor
Police National Headquarters
E [email address]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #9857 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================
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
hide quoted sections
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Thanks for your reply. I remind the Police that they are required to give notice of any extension before 20 working days. That passed, and the response I got after just said that my requests (labelled "complaints" in the Police system for some reason) were being actioned.
The Police could still send through a notification of extension, so I have some idea on when I might get a response.
This is required under Law.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
From: WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah
New Zealand Police
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Dear Hugh
Please find attached the NZ Police response to your OIA.
Ngā mihi
Hannah Wright-McCarthy
Ministerial Services Advisor
Police National Headquarters
E [email address]
[1]wordmark transparent
===============================================================
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
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Thanks for that. I'm a bit surprised that the Police appear to have no data showing how many formal complaints are actually actioned... I would have thought that be a core part of policing, so that the Police know whether they are properly responding to complaints or not. From this, I can gather that you correctly respond to formal complaints somewhere between 0% and 100% of the time, which isn't the most helpful.
If you decide that infact the Police do store this information, that would be good if you can release it as originally requested. If you are certain that that information doesn't exist, we'll leave this request as finished.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
I'm also a bit confused that you mention that "In every instance reported, a record is maintained", yet that record somehow has no information at all about the outcome of that instance. For example, to detect repeat offenders, I would imagine that "the number of those submissions that resulted in the actual driver of the vehicle being spoken to by NZ Police" would be information stored. If the Police do not know whether the driver was spoken to by the Police, then how can they tell whether the driver is a repeat offender or not?
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
New Zealand Police
Hello Hugh
I have been advised the following by the workgroup that compiled your
request.
Police do record when charges are laid and infringement notices or formal
warnings are issued. Police do not record when a conversation was had at
the side of the road.
There are multiple ways Policecan identify a repeat offender. This can
include searching the infringement processing database for frequently
occuring driver licence numbers, names, vehicles etc. Likewise, the
communications and dispatching database can be searched for frequent
vehicle registrations. Searches can also be conducted to identify the
individuals with the most traffic convictions/charges etc. These can be
collated and analysed by intelligence teams to identify drivers who are
regularly coming to Police’s attention.
Regards
Ministerial Services
Police National Headquarters
[1]wordmark transparent
===============================================================
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
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear New Zealand Police,
Thanks for that. Given you've now admitted that you do infact have records for when infringement notices or formal warnings have been sent. I would like to get my response as legally required for points 1(a), 1(c), 2(a), and 2(c) which directly ask for whether letters have been sent, and whether warnings/infringements/convictions were made. You have already refused this under s18(g) as it doesn't exist, but in your latest response you clearly state that it does exist "Police do record when charges are laid and infringement notices or formal warnings are issued."
Can you please ensure that in future, the Police follow the OIA legal requirements appropriately, and release information when it is requested instead of pretending that it doesn't exist (illegally). I remind the Police yet again that they are not above the law. I have informed the Ombudsman about this.
Given that my request was made March 14th 2019, and I have made no clarifications, and the response was incorrect purely due to the Police's inability to handle OIA requests legally, I would hope for a response ASAP, and I note that my request is now overdue by 13 working days (I think I've taken the holidays into account appropriately). ASAP to me would be a response by COB today.
I also hope that the Police look into why this OIA request was mishandled and the incorrect response was sent. Perhaps looking into your procedures on how you handle OIA's, the QA process, etc, in order to make sure that any future requests are made with the correct response.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear WRIGHT-MCCARTHY, Hannah,
Can I please get an update on this? You refused this under s18(g) as it doesn't exist, then you go on to say that a record is kept. It can't be both, if it exists, it is covered by the OIA and must be released. If it doesn't exist, then there should be no records kept.
I also note my comment about Police's handling of OIA requests. A bit of quality assurance could go a long way.
Yours sincerely,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear New Zealand Police,
Can I please get an update on this?
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
From: Hugh Davenport
Dear New Zealand Police,
Can I please get an update on this.
Yours faithfully,
Hugh Davenport
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