A lack of information sharing between government agencies, and the private sector, is the greatest barrier to tackling organised crime, according to a new report from an expert group advising the coalition.
The ministerial advisory group reporting to Cabinet Minister Casey Costello has heard “repeatedly” that constraints on information sharing means law enforcement agencies in New Zealand are not keeping pace with the rapidly evolving criminal landscape.
“As we have said before – organised crime can move at the speed of digital technology, but enforcement agencies can only move at the speed of the law,” the panel wrote in their July report.
Chaired by experienced prosecutor Steve Symon, the latest report by the advisory group said crucial information was held in “silos”, shared reactively instead of proactively, and then inconsistently because of different legal interpretations.
“The public reasonably expects government agencies to use information that it has collected to lawfully target organised crime, both domestically and internationally. That requires the information to be proactively shared. That is not happening,” the panel wrote.
“There also appears to be a deeply rooted culture of a risk-averse approach towards proactive sharing of information.”
The Privacy Act was regularly cited by government agencies as a reason to not proactively share information, often on the advice of lawyers, especially after high-profile cases that had led to public criticism.
This approach was not shared by the Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster, who is quoted in the report as saying: “Nine times out of 10, it’s organisational culture or systems issues that stop effective and needed information sharing from taking place – not the law.”
In a section of the report titled “Organised crime is organised – we are not”, the expert panel said that while there are legal avenues for information to be shared among government departments, such as memoranda of understanding, they are not applied consistently.
In particular, Inland Revenue (IR), which holds tax records that can be crucial to investigations into organised crime, was singled out for mention.
“IR has told us that it recognises the approach it has traditionally taken to information sharing may have been too conservative, and there is scope to be more pragmatic,” the expert panel wrote.
“This mirrors feedback we received from a number of other Government agencies.”
The ministerial advisory group said the same lack of information sharing flowed into the private sector, which held a wealth of useful information and should be a key partner in the fight against organised crime
“Many businesses want to help. Information that would assist businesses in high-risk industries such as ports and airports to disrupt and prevent organised crime, such as key trends, emerging threats and features of organised crime, are not being provided,” the panel wrote.
“Businesses want this information. Sector leaders that we spoke to told us that they want a seat at the table. They want to help to design the solution. But they are being overlooked.”
The advisory panel recommended the establishment of a national plan, rather than separate ones for individual government departments, to clearly set out what information can be shared.
This national framework should be accompanied by a “data lake” – a platform, or centralised repository, to make the data easy to search.
In time, AI could also interrogate the data to identify trends or other leads for further investigation.
To move away from a risk-averse culture, the panel also recommended that information-sharing benchmarks be set as performance measures for the chief executives of government departments.
“Senior leaders steer the direction of their agencies – if they are motivated to improve the culture, that motivation should filter down through the organisation.”
The advisory group has made recommendations to Costello on a different organised crime topic each month since March, such as corruption and money laundering, with a final report to be published in September.
But it has already warned the coalition Government that bold changes are needed urgently as New Zealand was “losing the fight” against transnational organised crime, illustrated by how the country was flooded with methamphetamine.
Despite more drugs being seized than before, the consumption of methamphetamine more than doubled in 2024 to the highest levels recorded in national wastewater testing.
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.