Good News! Your Car Wasn't Stolen if There was No Intent to Keep It
November 22, 2022
PHOTO: Supplied to NZ Herald
No car thefts have been recorded in Northland since June, due to an oddity in the law.
This is because vehicles that are later recovered - which accounts for most that are taken - cannot be classified as theft because the intent to keep it cannot be proven.
Instead, the crime is defined in the Crimes Act as conversion, and in police data as the illegal use of a motor vehicle.
“If a vehicle is later recovered and can be returned to its owner in working order, then we can’t demonstrate an intent to permanently deprive the owner of that vehicle,” a police spokesperson said.
All reports of vehicle theft, police said, were initially coded as conversion rather than theft. This is the same as in other jurisdictions, according to police.