Privacy Commissioner - Te Mana Matapono Matatapu

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Customs/Justice Fines Defaulters Alerts Programme

• Annual report
• Technical information
• System description
• Historical activity

Annual report

Purpose: To improve the enforcement of fines by identifying serious fines defaulters as they cross New Zealand borders, and to increase voluntary compliance through publicity about the programme targeted at travellers.

Year commenced: 2006

Features: Data transferred each day by online transfer.

Justice disclosure to Customs: Justice provides serious fines defaulter information for inclusion on Customs' ‘silent alerts' or ‘interception alerts' lists.

Fines defaulters who have interception alerts recorded are those where:

• any amount of reparation is owing and a warrant to arrest (which covers part of the reparation outstanding) has been issued; or
• court imposed fines of $5,000 or more are outstanding and a warrant to arrest (which covers part of the court imposed fines outstanding) has been issued.

Silent alerts are created for fines defaulters who are not subject to an interception alert but have outstanding fines of $1,000 or more and a warrant to arrest (which covers part of the outstanding court imposed fines) has been issued.
Each Justice fines defaulter record disclosed includes the full name, date of birth, gender and a fines defaulter unique identifier number.

Customs disclosure to Justice: For each alert triggered, Customs supplies the full name, date of birth, gender, nationality and presented passport number, along with details about the intended or just completed travel.

2008/09 activity:

Silent alerts triggered	1,821
Individuals subject to silent alerts[1]	976
Intercept alerts triggered	79
Total number of people intercepted[2]	65
On departure	55
On arrival	12
Total incorrect intercepts	6
Fines had already been paid	1
Wrong person identified by the match	5
Interception not completed	4
Fines received	$106,465
Reparation received	$121,877
Amount under a current time-to-pay arrangement	$212,614
Remittals/alternative sentence imposed	$115,759

Last year we reported that Justice had carried out a review of the Collection of Fines at Airports (CoFaA) project, which identified several issues with their procedures.

The main problems we reported were that multiple sources of instructions existing within the Ministry of Justice contributed to issues in the management of identity, the interception of fines defaulters no longer subject to an alert, and errors in reports to the Privacy Commissioner.

The review of CoFaA recommended that Justice make procedural changes to resolve those issues. This year, Justice reports that:

• it has consolidated all CoFaA documentation and has centralised CoFaA operations to a dedicated team;
• the CoFaA Operational Working Group meets quarterly, creating closer inter-agency working relationships; and
• there have been no delays to aircraft because of CoFaA alerts since new processes were implemented.

Compliance: Compliant.

Technical information 

Information matching provision	Customs and Excise Act 1996, s.280D
Year authorised	2006
Programme type	Locating people
Unique identifiers	Personal profile number Passport number
On-line transfers	Yes

System description

On a daily basis, Justice transmits a file containing details of serious fines defaulters to Customs using a secure on-line connection for the purpose of creating ‘interception alerts' or ‘silent alerts'[3] in the Customs system (CusMod). The more serious cases attract the "interception alert", which, as the name suggests, involves the traveller being intercepted at the airport and required to pay their fine or reparation or face arrest. The balance of the cases start an administrative or "silent" process which will see information about the traveller being used for further enforcement action after their entry or re-entry to the country.

Fines defaulters who have interception alerts recorded in CusMod are those where:
• Either
o any amount of reparation is owing; and
o a warrant to arrest has been issued; and
o the warrant covers at least part of the reparation outstanding;

• Or
o court imposed fines greater or equal to $5,000 are outstanding; and
o a warrant to arrest has been issued; and
o the warrant covers at least part of these court imposed fines.

"Silent alerts" are created for fines defaulters not subject to an "interception alert" but meeting the following criteria:

• fines equal to or greater than $1,000 are outstanding; and
• a warrant to arrest has been issued; and
• the warrant covers at least part of these outstanding fines.

For each fines defaulter, Justice supply Customs with the following information:

Person profile number	Family name	Given names
Date of birth	Gender	Alert type

As individuals present themselves at the border, a Customs official scans their passport into the CusMod system. The Customs matching algorithm converts their names into an alpha-numeric code for matching against alerts. An alert is only generated for "A" matches, which requires a 91-100% match outcome based on a weighting system. For instance, date of birth and family name each has a percentage attributed to it which adds up to 75% towards the overall weighting score.

Matches triggering an Interception alert are directed to a Customs official who notifies NZ Police. A police officer conducts an interview with the individual to confirm the identity of the traveller and that the traveller is the same person as the alert, whether outstanding fines exist, and if a warrant to arrest remains in force. (Fines and warrant to arrest information is obtained by phoning a dedicated number at the Justice Contact Centre). If the Police are satisfied that the traveller is not the person on the alert they are left to continue on their travels and a report is filed. If the facts are verified, the individual is put in contact with Justice on the telephone and given an opportunity to pay the outstanding amount or to enter into an arrangement to pay. If no payment is made, or arrangement entered into, the Police have discretion to execute the arrest warrant, in which case the individual will be stopped from travelling and brought before a court.

After an interception, the alert is usually removed from CusMod in the next daily update.

Silent alert information is not displayed to Customs staff but is notified electronically to Justice using an online connection for use in the related INZ/Justice Fines Defaulters Tracing Programme. Silent alerts do not result in individuals being at risk of having their travel interrupted.

Historical activity

Indicative Impact of the Collection of Fines at Airports Initiative[4] (2007/08)

	Cash received for fines	Reparation received	Amounts under a current time to pay arrangement	Remittals / alternative sentence imposed	Total Indicative Impact
Interception alerts	$89,975	$127,308	$116,818	$84,812	$418,913
Silent alerts	$418,203	$0	$174,118	$110,418	$702,739
Calls to contact centre where fines defaulter mentions initiative	$274,029	$61,557	$88,034	$169,365	$592,985
Calls to the 0800 "pay or stay" line	$1,026,923	$64,738	$1,015,012	$115,071	$2,221,744
Collections through web site	$522,416	$0	$0	$0	$522,416
Total	$2,331,546	$253,603	$1,393,982	$479,666	$4,458,797

Customs/Justice Interception Alerts Results
19/09/2006 - 30/06/2008

	2006/07	2007/08
Intercept alerts
Number triggered	98	105
Interception outcomes
Total number of people intercepted	78	89
On departure	17	26
On arrival	61	63

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[1] See the INZ/Justice Fines Defaulters Alerts Programme report for details of actions taken.
[2] The number of alerts on arrival or departure will not necessarily equal the total number of people intercepted because a person can trigger multiple alerts in a given period.
[3] Silent alert notifications are sent to Justice for use in the INZ/Justice Fines Defaulters Tracing Programme.
[4] These totals are made up of hard numbers and estimates, hence they are shown as "indicative". Money collected from interception and silent alerts is directly attributable to the match. Money paid via the contact centre, pay or stay line or website is attributed to the Collection of Fines at Airports initiative as indicated by the caller.