IR-01-24-11027
23 April 2024
[FYI request #26261 email]
Tēnā koe
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 28 March 2024. You
wrote:
Please provide all incident reports from the period of January 2023 to March
2024 in which a police vehicle was stolen.
If, and only if, the scope of these incidents is too large, I am happy to it be limited
to the Auckland and Bay of Plenty region only.
You may be aware that one such incident occurred on 8 January 2024 as this was
reported in the media. As this matter is now before the court, any further information
about this is withheld under section 6(c) of the OIA as the making available of that
information would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the
prevention, investigation, and detection of offences, and the right to a fair trial.
No other incidents relevant to your request have been reported in that timeframe.
However, please note, in cases when a police vehicle is taken and the alleged offender is
stopped by police at the time or they crash and the vehicle is immediately recovered, it
may be that the car does not get recorded as stolen.
Also, if other more serious offences are committed at the same time, the person may not
also be charged for stealing the car, in line with the Solicitor-General’s Prosecution
Guidelines1.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this
decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
1
https://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Prosecution-
Guidelines/ProsecutionGuidelines2013.pdf
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
Please note that as part of its commitment to openness and transparency, Police
proactively releases some information and documents that may be of interest to the
public. An anonymised version of this response may be publicly released on the New
Zealand Police website.
Ngā mihi
Zane Kearns
Director: Performance and Data (acting)
