Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Chairperson of the Justice Committee): Kia ora e te Māngai. The Justice Committee reported back to the House on the annual reviews in the justice sector in March 2021. As part of this process the committee conducted a regular review of the New Zealand Police. The commissioner and officials appeared before the select committee and it was quite a lively event I do remember. The committee heard about a number of important topics including the impact of COVID-19 Operation Tauwhiro and other wider work in the space of combating gangs and organised crime and also the work that's been going on to reduce family violence in New Zealand. In terms of reducing family harm the select committee particularly asked police how they were addressing the problem of family violence within New Zealand. It was acknowledged and provided to the committee that at the heart of this is as much criminal offending as well. Particularly the programme that police have been working on is a joint wraparound programme with iwi. Whāngaia Nā Pā Harakeke is a programme which creates opportunities by communicating and partnering through agencies and also by working within communities to share that information at the right time and the right place. By being able to share information more readily and with a wider range of partners this has been seen to be a better way of assessing risk and to coordinate an appropriate response to that level of risk. Additionally the various partnering agencies are able to share their expertise and resources and address a complex range of factors. This was seen to be working particularly well in some of those areas that had a higher rate of family violence in New Zealand. In relation to gangs and organised crime the select committee particularly heard about Operation Tauwhiro. Police told the committee that in February 2021 the operation was launched and this continues to be a nationwide operation that seeks to disrupt and prevent firearms-related violence by criminal gangs and organised crime. The committee was told by the commissioner and also officials that the police's 10000 officers will be focused on firearms-related violence involving gangs and organised criminal groups. Information was provided that Operation Tauwhiro was one of the first operations that aligned the police's new organised crime strategy which sits alongside the transnational organised crime strategy which was launched in September last year. The committee specifically asked police to comment on the expectations of the operation particularly around its effectiveness considering that the operation provided a new focus for police. The police response was that it was proactive and focused and that it was seen to be a significant contributor to the increase in firearm seizures asset confiscations and drug charges related to gang activity demonstrated that this was an effective approach that had been taken. It was also noted that when working within communities on issues such as this policing by consent was important and that was a term that was looked at. We noted that police stated in their annual report that for their effectiveness as an organisation it was important that they did that with the consent of communities and worked alongside. Their focus on this approach has led to a style of policing that influences how they respond to communities. The select committee particularly picked up on this and asked how this approach affected the way that police would respond to gang-related crime. We heard that the approach of policing by consent in no way detracted from the seriousness in which the police approach gangs and gang offences. Rather the approach is about ensuring that police maintain the trust and the confidence of the communities that they work within. To quickly wrap up—as I'm aware of time—we also heard about what work police had done after March 15th. The select committee acknowledged and thanked the police for their work in responding to the March 15th terror attack on Christchurch mosques and the police had stated that the royal commission had recommended that the police improve the way they record crimes where hate is a motivating factor. In response to this police discussed how they developed new strategies. One in particular Te Raranga or The Weave is to better help coordinate and respond to hate crime and hate incidents. We heard that police are also strengthening the engagement with ethnic communities through a joint Māori Pacific and ethnic focus forum. I will enable further discussion around these areas by enabling members to ask questions.