Police Amendment Bill Could Have Chilling Effect On People’s Rights – Office of the Privacy Commissioner

The intelligence gathering powers proposed in the Police Amendment Bill will impact on the privacy rights of everyday New Zealanders and have a potentially chilling effect on people’s civil and political rights, says the Privacy Commissioner.

“This Bill will authorise the Police to video and record people when they are out in public and I’d like people to think about how they’d expect Police to be using this power.”

“I have real concerns about Police’s wide discretion and the lack of clear boundaries on intelligence gathering activities that this Bill proposes, and I strongly believe limits are needed on these powers”, Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster says.

“Collecting information about people is a vital part of Police’s role in keeping the public safe and preventing crime but it also needs to happen within an agreed set of reasonable boundaries. From a privacy perspective Police should only be collecting and retaining the information about people needed to carry out its functions.

“There are real questions about how much information is good policing intelligence to stop crime, and how much could be bulk collection of images of people going about their lawful daily lives,” says Mr Webster.

My concern is the impacts on people’s civil rights. It’s possible this Bill could allow Police to take video of young people hanging out in a park, not because they’re connected to a possible crime, investigation, or public safety reason, but to keep tabs on a group of people because that video ‘might’ be useful one day.

“This Bill will authorise the Police to video and record people when they’re out in public and I’d like people to think about how they’d expect Police to be using this power.”

“As Privacy Commissioner, I have deep concerns about the Bill’s implications, especially for Māori because we’ve seen this all before.”

In 2022 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner ran an inquiry with the IPCA about Police in Wairarapa stopping rangatahi in the street and taking their photos “in anticipation” of the possibility of future offending. The inquiry found that Police were not justified in this, as the photographs were not necessary for a lawful policing purpose.

It’s not clear how the Bill will ensure these scenarios won’t happen again.

“It’s critically important to a democratic society that individuals can complain when things go wrong, including when Police collect, use, or share information about them in a way that impacts of their privacy. This Bill would make that very difficult.

“There must also be sufficient oversight of Police’s handling of personal information, either by my Office or another independent organisation,” said Mr Webster.

“It’s an important Bill, but the rush to introduce the Bill means it hasn’t had the consultation it needs, especially with the groups it’s likely to most impact. It needs careful consideration, and we need to take the time to get this right.

I’ll be raising these issues in my Select Committee submission, and I encourage others to make a submission too, or to raise their concerns with their MP before submissions close on 22 April.”