Interagency Protocols

Probation officers should be aware of and practice in accordance with the requirements of the protocols contained in Service Level Agreements with:

• Ministry of Justice.
• Child, Youth and Family.

Ministry of Justice

Protection Orders

The Domestic Violence Act 1995 allows a probation officer for the purpose of writing a pre-sentence report to request information on protection orders from the Registrar of the District Court who then obtains the information from the Registrar of the Family Court.

Victim details

Victims' advisers (where present) will provide victim contact details to Probation Officers with the victim's consent, for the purposes of establishing emotional harm and assessing reparation.

Child, Youth and Family

Information sharing

The protocol for information sharing is contained in the CYF Service Level Agreement, Section 12.

Reasonable grounds

Clause 12.5.4 of the Sevice Level Agreement specifies the reasonable grounds for Corrections and Child, Youth and Family disclosing information about an identifiable individual to one another:

• Where the disclosure is authorised by the individual concerned (eg. by the use of signed consent forms), or
• Where disclosure is necessary to avoid prejudice to the maintenance of law, including the prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of offences, or
• Where disclosure is necessary for the conduct of any Court proceedings (being proceedings that have been commenced or are reasonably in contemplation), or
• Where disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to public safety; or the life or health of the individual concerned or another individual.