The New Zealand Police Vetting Service provides Conviction History reports and other relevant non-convicted information on potential and current employees, volunteers, and vocational trainees. Vetting is provided for Approved Agencies who are responsible for the care, protection, or education of children, elderly or disabled, agencies involved in Law Enforcement or National Security, and agencies that have a legislative obligation to obtain a Police vet.

The purpose of a vetting application is determined by the applicable legislation and position applied for. For example, a Core Children’s Worker subject to the Children’s Act 2014, being vetted as a caregiver of children within a home or workplace setting; the purpose of this type of vetting application is the safety of a child.

The vetting service does not make a recommendation or decision regarding someone’s suitability for a position. A Police Vetting result is a point-in-time check that should form one part of any process for determining an applicant’s suitability for any professional registration, appointment, employment, or visa. The decision regarding the applicant’s suitability for a position is the responsibility of the Approved Agency.

A Police Vet is not a National Security Clearance. The NZ National Security Clearance process is managed in accordance with the New Zealand government security clearance requirements administered by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS).

Agencies who do not meet our criteria and individuals wishing to obtain their own Conviction History report can request a Criminal Record Check from the Ministry of Justice.

Policing (Police Vetting) Amendment Bill

On 5 November 2024, the Policing (Police Vetting) Amendment Bill (the Bill) received its first reading and was referred to the Justice Select Committee for consideration.

The Justice Select Committee is accepting public submissions on the Bill until 19 December 2024. You can find a link to read the Bill and information about how to make a submission here.

The Bill provides a statutory framework for the Police vetting service to continue in substantially the same manner as at present. The Bill will provide clear and consistent policy for Police and users of the vetting service.

In practice, we expect most vetting users are unlikely to notice a change in service.

The statutory framework:

- sets out the purpose of Police vetting, which is to assist agencies with their decision-making about:

 - roles that involve the care and safety of children, young people, and vulnerable adults

 - roles that involve the education of children or young people

 - roles that involve law enforcement or national security, or

 - suitability for immigration or citizenship purposes

- provides the process to approve agencies to make a vetting request

- requires that a request for a Police vet be made with the consent of the vetting subject, or, if they are between 14 and 16 years of age, their parent or guardian

- provides that a request for a Police vet cannot be made where the vetting subject is under 14 years of age

- sets out that a vetting subject’s criminal conviction history must be disclosed in a Police vet, subject to the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004

- sets out the types of Police-held, non-conviction information that may be considered for release. This may include active or past charges, warrants, infringement offences, demerit points, overseas convictions (if held), family violence incidents, investigations that did not result in charges, and interactions that the vetting subject has had with Police

- provides that non-conviction information may be disclosed in a Police vet only where it is relevant to the purpose of the vet and Police has taken reasonable steps to ensure the information is accurate and not misleading

- provides additional specific disclosure tests for information subject to a suppression order, information about a person when they were under 18 years, mental health or substance abuse information, and information about a subject’s involvement in family violence as a witness or victim

- requires Police to provide a Police vet in response to a request, except where doing so is likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law

- requires Police to provide agencies with updates on Police vets where the vetting subject is a children’s worker under the Children’s Act 2014.

The Bill enables Police to extend the current Police vetting service to provide services that could improve public safety and generate efficiencies through the provision of Police vets. This is done by:

- enabling Police to make arrangements with an agency to provide updates on a Police vet in agreed circumstances, with the vetting subject’s consent, and

- enabling Police to specify a class of individuals who can request a Police vet on themselves to be provided to approved agencies.

Police does not currently have plans to deliver these services.

Police has provided further background information on the Bill here.