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We are the only NZ Police oversight body

We are not part of the NZ Police

Under law we are fully independent

If you have a complaint about the NZ Police, you can come to us

Mana Whanonga Pirihimana Motuhake

Home / Complaints

Complaint confidentiality

Find out here how confidential your complaint is.

Legislation

Police will be notified of your complaint. This is a legal requirement under section 16 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988. It is also our practice to provide Police with a copy of your complaint.

Our legislation says that we can't give out information collected during our assessment of a complaint. This includes information we receive from the Police.

We're not subject to the Official Information Act 1982 and our Act limits the personal information we can provide under the Privacy Act 1993.

We are not subject to the Official Information Act

The Authority is not subject to the Official Information Act and the information we can release under the Privacy Act is very limited. 

This is because the release of any information we hold, such as our correspondence with Police, is restricted and regulated by section 32 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988. Section 32 overrides the entitlement to access to information under the Privacy Act. It says that we must maintain secrecy in respect of matters coming to our attention, except as required to carry out our functions or explain our decisions.

We can't provide you with copies of Police records. You can request Police records on the Police website.

Public reports

We publish the outcomes of some of our investigations. If we publish a report about your complaint, all the identifying information will be removed. For example, we'll use "Ms X" instead of your name unless it's already public.

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