Privacy Statement

Purpose

This privacy policy relates to the New Zealand Police website www.police.govt.nz and the NZ Police app content. The purpose of the policy is to tell you:

  • that you can browse our website content without providing personal information
  • how we use cookies
  • what personal information we collect, use and disclose in accordance with the Privacy Act (for specific services like news alerts or job postings),
  • how you can contact us if you have queries or concerns about our privacy policy

You can browse our website without providing personal information

You can access and browse content on our site and the NZ Police app without disclosing your personal information. We do not automatically record personal information and we do not link information that is recorded automatically with personal information about specific individuals. We do not attempt to identify users or their browsing activities unless they choose to give us personal information.

We automatically record some non-personal information

If you visit our website and/or the NZ Police app to read or download content, we automatically record some non-personal statistical information, including:

  • the type of browser you use
  • the type of operating system you use
  • the screen resolution of your PC
  • the date and time you access our site
  • the pages you have accessed, the links clicked on, and the documents downloaded
  • the internet address from which you accessed our site (i.e. IP address)
  • the search terms you used to find content on our website, and
  • the last site you visited from which you accessed any New Zealand Police website

New Zealand Police also use the Google Analytics tool to collect and view non-personal visitor statistics so we can:

  • discover what information is most and least used
  • determine technical design specifications, and
  • help make our site more useful to visitors.

Use of cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form – that is, cookies do not collect personal information. 

The New Zealand Police website uses cookies to temporarily store information in order to enhance your browsing experience, for example:

  • for managing subscriptions to news alerts to ensure that only you can change your subscriptions
  • wherever a "math question" or other CAPTCHA is used to prevent automated spam submissions
  • to remember the options you selected when using a mobile device

Disabling/enabling cookies

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings on your browser. Disabling cookies will not stop you from using the New Zealand Police website but it will mean that:

  • you can no longer subscribe, manage your subscriptions or unsubscribe, and
  • you will not get the improved browsing experiences that the cookies enable. 

When do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information when you:

  • fill in an online form
  • subscribe to a service (such as news releases)
  • create a candidate profile or set up a job alert, or
  • correspond with us.

For example, when you sign up to receive news releases or media reports, we will collect your email address, or when you fill in the change of details form for firearms licence, you submit personal information such as name, address and contact details.

Subscribing to a service

If you subscribe to a service through this website, we record your email address in a database. We use your email address only for the purpose of sending you the service. We will not disclose your email address to any third parties. 

Subscribing to news releases or incident alerts implies that you have given your consent to receive emails from us, as defined in the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. You can unsubscribe at any time by visiting the subscription page for the service you wish to terminate, entering your email address and choosing "Unsubscribe".

What is your personal information used for?

If you choose to provide personal information when adding material to the Police website, it may be viewable by site administrators, certain Police staff and contractors (including third parties) providing administration or other services relating to the website. NZ Police does not currently run on-line forums or similar user- generated discussion sites viewable by members of the public, but in any case please do not transmit personal information of a sensitive nature through this website.     

We only use your personal information for the purpose specified at the point of collection (for example, to email a news release to you).

We will not give your personal information to other Government agencies, private sector organisations or anyone else unless one of the following applies:

  • you have consented
  • you would reasonably expect that information of that kind is usually passed on to those organisations (for example, companies providing services such as web hosting to New Zealand Police)
  • it is for the purpose of preventing or mitigating cyber threats
  • it is otherwise required or authorised by the Privacy Act or any other law (for example, to prevent offending, for law enforcement ,or to prevent or lessen a serious threat to anyone’s health or safety)
  • it will be used in a way that will not identify you (for example, statistical or research purposes).

Call recording

If you call us on our 105 non-emergency number or our 111 emergency number we will record the call to help us provide better service. If you would prefer to contact us online, or have any difficulty getting through to 105 please go to www.police.govt.nz/use-105.

We record 105 and 111 calls:

  1. for staff training purposes, to help us improve the quality of the service we provide and to ensure the information we give you is consistent and accurate
  2. to ensure we have an accurate record of your call. We may need that if there are unresolved concerns
  3. to enable the call to be transcribed if that is necessary for court proceedings.

Your personal information is important and we are committed to protecting it. We store the recordings securely for 7 years after the date of the call and destroy them after that time.

You can ask to access and, if necessary, correct the personal information we hold about you. Unless we have lawful reason for withholding this information we will provide you with access: request personal information.

Rights of access and correction of personal information

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to access and to request correction of any of your personal information provided to New Zealand Police in connection with your use of this website. If you would like to see the personal information relating to you that New Zealand Police has stored, or to change such personal information, or if you have any concerns regarding your privacy, please contact us at the address set out below. New Zealand Police will require proof of your identity before being able to provide you with any personal information.

Privacy policy queries and concerns

If you have any queries or concerns about our website privacy policy, please contact:

Webmaster
Media and Communications
Police National Headquarters
PO Box 3017
Wellington 6140

Contact us online via our secure online form.

Privacy Commissioner

If you are not satisfied with our response to any privacy-related concern you may have, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Telephone: 0800 803 909
Online: Enquiry Form

www.privacy.org.nz