Overview
- Newly released documents, obtained Thursday by RNZ under the Official Information Act, show a 6.14am text from a senior police comms manager giving the producer a heads-up that Tom Phillips had been shot before family were told.
- The messages place the NHNZ crew at a police station by about 8am with requests to film preparation for an 11am media conference and to capture the commissioner arriving.
- Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says the project was not handled in line with usual protocols and adds he would not have allowed access to an active crime scene.
- Executive director Cas Carter says the media were not served well and confirms a review of how documentary access and sensitive information are managed.
- NHNZ had been embedded on Operation Curly for more than a year for a planned Netflix release, and the texts also note police planned to consult the producer during OIA release reviews; Phillips died after a September 2025 shootout with police.