The History of the Search and Surveillance Bill

In 2002 Labour said that police powers of search and surveillance were a mess. 

They argued that law and order hadn’t kept pace with technology and that police powers were based on statutes between 40 and 50 years old. The Law Commission was ordered to recommend changes.

Police run operations on political activists

A recent document released under the Official Information Act (OIA) shows that the Police are heavily spying on and running operations on protest groups. In the Police annual report for the year ending 30th June 2009, a reference was made to “84 operation orders” made in relation to “public demonstrations”. An OIA request for a list of all these operation orders made in October 2009 has now finally been answered by Police National Headquarters and the results are chilling.

Ths SIS hunt for WMD

WMD? WTF? SIS proves vigilant in its idiocy...

In November 2009 it was revealed that the SIS met with the University Vice 
Chancellor's Committee, urging lecturers to be vigilant about students 
acquiring knowledge about Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD) and to 
encourage them to spy on students.

Surveillance of Activists – Amateur and Dangerous

"...we came across a poster a few years ago. The poster contained about 50 photos of activists  ...  At the bottom of the poster is a caption reading “If you have any information on any of the mentioned Activists/Protesters, then forward all details through to Detective Mike Cartwright, Harlech House, 482 Great South Road ”. ...  Despite being 16 at the time and having no convictions then or since I was included on the poster. Many of the other people on the poster had never been to an animal rights demo and were shocked to see themselves on it...."

Rob Gilchrist - police informant for 'anti-terror' unit

Rob Gilchrist, a Christchurch-based man has spied on activist groups for more than 10 years. He worked for the NZ Police and was sending information to Detective Peter Gilroy and Detective Sergeant John Sjoberg. They are both members of the Special Investigation Group (SIG).

The SIG has groups in Auckland (headed by Aaron Lee Pascoe), Wellington (headed by Brian Woodcock) and Christchurch (where Gilroy and Sjoberg are based). Gilchrist, also know as balaclava, was spying on various groups including the Save Happy Valley Coalition, Peace Action Wellington, Auckland Animal Action and many other groups and individuals.

Police spies caught in the act.

On Tuesday 16th September, 2008, as an October 15 Solidarity meeting was winding up at Oblong/Freedom shop, attendants were alerted to the presence of half a dozen suspected plain-clothes police positioned outside in Left Bank pedestrian mall. One was noticed pacing back and forth past the front door, looking in on the meeting.

Spies exposed in local activist groups

          

The Christchurch Save Happy Valley (SHV) group, the Wellington Animal Rights Network (WARN) and Peace Action Wellington (PAW) have exposed corporate spies operating within their groups.

In Christchurch, Ryan had been involved in the group for 7 months, while in Wellington Somali had been spying for around 2 years.