We are the only NZ Police oversight body

We are not part of the NZ Police

Under law we are fully independent

If you have a complaint about the NZ Police, you can come to us

Mana Whanonga Pirihimana Motuhake

Contact us

Complaining to us with courtesy and consideration

We take the health and safety and wellbeing of our staff seriously and have some rules of engagement that we’d like you to know about.

You can expect us to:

treat you courteously and with respect
answer your questions about our general process
let you know when you can expect to hear back from us.

We expect you to:

treat us with courtesy
co-operate with our process and requests for information
correspond with our staff politely
understand that we will not tolerate rude or abusive behaviour or correspondence
understand that we have a zero-tolerance approach to threats made to IPCA staff.

Harmful communications to staff – such as abusive or offensive comments and harassment – are never acceptable and may result in the Authority declining to investigate your complaint.

The IPCA takes the safety and wellbeing of our staff seriously

Violence or threats of violence are never acceptable, and we will respond accordingly. This may include issuing a warning, reporting a matter of concern to the Police, or issuing a trespass notice to limit entry onto our premises.
Communication with our staff that does not respect their wellbeing and safety may result in a warning and in serious or repeated cases may mean that we are not able to deal with your complaint.

This includes:

abusive or offensive comments or threats to staff
intimidation or harassment of staff by phone or email
a communication that breaches the communication principles in the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

Language assistance

We can provide an interpreter on the phone. This is a free service called Ezispeak.

Call us on 0800 503 728 and leave a message telling us what language you speak. Ask for an interpreter. We will call you back.

NZ Relay

People who have hearing or speech impairment or are Deaf or Deaf blind can talk to us using NZ Relay.

NZ Relay is a free national service that supports people to use the phone. All calls are private and strictly confidential.

For more information on using NZ Relay visit the NZ Relay Help desk.

Video Interpreting Service

People who are Deaf and use New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) can contact us through the Video Interpreting Service (VIS).

VIS is a NZ Relay service and all calls are private and strictly confidential.

VIS is free and available for phone calls and in-person meetings 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday.