IR-01-22-4869
30 March 2022
Jack Steel
[FYI request #18630 email]
Dear Jack
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 22 February 2022, in
which you asked for information regarding Police Armed Offenders Squads (AOS) and
Special Tactics Groups (STG).
My response to each of your questions can be found below. Please note, all information
requested regarding STG is refused pursuant to sections 6(a) and 6(c) of the OIA as the
making available of the information requested is likely to prejudice the security or defence
of New Zealand and prejudice the maintenance of the law.
1. Number of deployments of the AOS and STG (separately) broken down per
year going as far back as reasonably recorded. If possible please also include a
breakdown of planned/unplanned operations.
This data is drawn from a dynamic operational database and is subject to change as new
information is recorded or updated. Table 1 contains the number of AOS deployments
between 1 July 2005 and 1 March 2022. AOS deployments is a count of AOS deployment
reports. There may be multiple squads deployed to the same deployment.
Table 1. AOS deployments by calendar year, from 1 July 2005 – 1 March 2022
Calendar Year
Emergency
Pre-planned
Total
2005^
205
156
361
2006
307
278
585
2007
371
261
632
2008
334
292
626
2009
443
478
921
2010
441
591
1032
2011
291
546
837
2012
268
473
741
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
2013
242
487
729
2014
206
460
666
2015
224
496
720
2016
323
553
876
2017
275
640
915
2018
325
599
924
2019
364
695
1059
2020
349
860
1209
2021
365
1034
1399
2022*
47
91
138
^ Begins July 2005
*As at 1 March 2022
2. The quantity of AOS squads and their locations, and the quantity of STG
squads and their locations.
3. The number of members in each AOS squad per region, and the number of
members in each STG squad per region.
ACTIVE AOS Members
Number of
AOS Squad
Members
Tamaki
Makaurau
34
Canterbury
43
Dunedin
18
Tairawhiti
10
Hawkes Bay
23
Southland
20
Tasman
22
Northland
19
Manawatu
16
Rotorua
14
Taranaki
16
Tauranga
17
Waikato
29
Whanganui
14
Wellington
34
West Coast
6
Total
335
4. The breakdown of number of male/female members of the AOS and STG
(separately).
ACTIVE AOS Members
Gender
Count
Female
18
Male
317
Total
335
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not satisfied
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at
: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely
Superintendent Andrew Sissons
Director: Tactical Operations
New Zealand Police