4 December 2024

Recent media reporting and public commentary has made errors about the findings of an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigation into alleged firearms offences by a South Island Police officer.

The commentary wrongly claimed the IPCA found the officer accessed the Firearm Registry administered by Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority. The IPCA made no such finding. The following information is provided for context and reassurance. 

The Police system accessed by the officer was the National Intelligence Application (NIA). The officer’s firearms licence had been suspended for this in March 2023, prior to the establishment of the Firearms Registry which went live in June 2023.

Te Tari Pūreke confirms there have been no data or privacy breaches where information contained in the Firearms Registry has been accessed by an unauthorised person or agency. 

On identifying the misreporting, the IPCA updated its website, which has clarified this issue as follows:

South Island Police officer investigated in relation to the acquisition of firearms and access to Police computer systems

28 November 2024

The Authority oversaw a Police investigation into allegations that an officer had acted unlawfully in acquiring firearms and interrogating the Police (National Intelligence Application) database. For clarity, the officer did not access the Firearms Registry database. [emphasis added]

Te Tari Pūreke believes the privacy of licence holders’ information is critical. The only people who have access to the Registry are staff who need it to do their jobs. Security and privacy have been key elements in the design and development of the Registry system. Accordingly, we have implemented a range of security controls to help protect the confidentiality and integrity of the information held in the Registry. These have met or exceeded government communication security standards. 

The Firearms Registry has been through multiple security assessments by Government approved independent security experts. These are the same security experts that do assessments of New Zealand banks, telecommunication providers, government departments, and insurance companies.