Keys, wallet, phone ... a gun, a taser, some methamphetamine, cannabis and a bong, a round of ammunition and a can of beer.

Sadly for some people, these are potentially the must-haves when walking out the door to go to court.

The items are among those people have tried to smuggle through the doors at the Rotorua and Tauranga courthouses during the past year.

Details about banned items confiscated by security officers at the courthouses between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, have been released under the Official Information Act by the Ministry of Justice.

They show people entering the courthouse in Rotorua were found on average more than twice a week trying to smuggle in banned items.

These included cannabis, methamphetamine, knives and other dangerous weapons such as a gun and tasers, and items used to smoke drugs.

The problem isn’t as bad in Tauranga, but on average nearly one person a week is found with something sinister - including one person who had a machete.

Banned items were seized by court security officers from 125 people at the Rotorua courthouse and 46 people at the Tauranga courthouse.

The numbers reflect an increase in Rotorua, up from the 90 people caught smuggling banned items during the 2023/24 12-month period.

But in Tauranga the number is a slight decrease with 50 people caught with banned items during the 2023/24 period.

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed a national increase of 19% in security incidents in courts, of which there was an increase in behaviour-based incidents.

Between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025, there were 4955 incidents compared with 4147 during the previous 12 months.

Creating change

Bay of Plenty social services leader Kevin Hollingsworth said not being prepared to make a good impression at court could be costly for some offenders - something his organisation was trying to change.

Hollingsworth, who is executive director for Mana Enhancing STOP Charitable Trust, is a former drug dealer who now works to help people turn their lives around.

Mana Enhancing STOP Charitable Trust executive director Kevin Hollingsworth. Photo / Kelly Makiha

The trust is a kaupapa Māori-driven drug recovery service. STOP stands for “stop taking our people” and refers to methamphetamine and other harmful substances.

Hollingsworth, who has been clean since 2011, said it was essential to ensure people going to court were prepared, knew their rights and wanted to do what was required to make right and help their causes.

“Going to court is quite daunting and it can hinder our people.”

He said often they were recidivist offenders who were trying to break their patterns of behaviour, but they needed to go back to the basics of learning what was appropriate.

“We try to break that pattern of that trauma so they can own their own narrative.”

He saw the benefits of offenders and defendants who went through their programmes, and often they had much better sentencing outcomes purely from being supported.

Hollingsworth said during his dark days on the other side of the dock, he had turned his back on the justice system.

“I literally saluted a judge with the one finger. And what happened? He took my pen and he wrote my story. But now I have taken back that pen.”

He said that often, if offenders and defendants did not have “pro-social” influences in their corner, they would struggle when they went to court.

“Sometimes they are so high, they are not aware of what they have on them.”

He said his organisation worked with offenders to change their futures.

“I’ve gone from dealer to healer.”

The work of the security officers

Under the Courts Security Act 1999, court security officers have the power to act if they discover potentially dangerous items.

When screening the possessions of a court visitor, they can take any item that could potentially be a weapon and return it to the person when they leave.

If the item is deemed prohibited, it will be seized and the person detained.

The matter would then be handed to the police.

Ministry of Justice national security operations director Peter Cowan said each individual walked through a metal detector.

If metal was detected, a hand-held metal detector would be used to identify the cause of the activation.

If further investigation was needed, a localised pat-down search could be performed.

All incoming property is screened using an X-ray machine, and a hand-held metal detector may be used to identify any items that require further investigation.

Cowan said if an item was still unable to be identified, a search by hand was conducted.

As at the start of November, there were 16 court security officers in Rotorua, including two court security managers with one outstanding vacancy. In Tauranga, there were 15 court security officers, including two managers, and three job vacancies.

Items confiscated from the Rotorua Courthouse: October 2024 to September 2025

October 2: Cannabis grinder

October 3: Key knife

October 3: Cannabis

October 9: Point bag, straw used for methamphetamine

October 10: Two cannabis cones

October 17: Cannabis, seeds, cone

October 23: Methamphetamine pipe

October 31: Scissors with residue

November 1: Drug pipe

November 4: Key knife

November 6: Kubotan (keychain weapon)

November 8: Ammunition round

November 12: Knuckle duster

November 12: Methamphetamine pipe

November 13: Two methamphetamine pipes

November 18: Knuckle duster

November 21: Cannabis

November 21: Three straws for drug use, bong, cone piece, tin of cannabis

December 2: Credit card knife [a knife designed in the shape of a credit card]

December 4: Cannabis grinder, knife

December 4: Bong, screwdriver covered in drug residue

December 5: Scissors with drug residue

December 11: Scissors covered with cannabis residue, methamphetamine

December 11: Point bag with drug residue

December 12: Methamphetamine

December 12: Cannabis pipe

December 12: Cannabis

December 18: Drug pipe

December 24: Methamphetamine pipe

January 8: Pepper spray, key knife

January 9: Cannabis pipe

January 13: Knuckle duster

January 16: Methamphetamine pipe.

January 21: Knuckledusters

January 24: Cone piece

January 29: Methamphetamine pipe, scales, scissors with drug residue

January 29: Kubotan

January 30: Methamphetamine drug utensil, two point bags with drug residue, unidentified pills

January 30: Kubotan

February 5: Knife, point bag

February 17: Key knife

February 18: A pair of scissors with drug residue, cannabis

February 20: Glass drug pipe

February 27: Cannabis

March 5: Cannabis

March 14: Cannabis, glass drug pipe

March 18: Knuckledusters, cannabis, bong, thimble

March 18: 1x round of ammunition

March 20: Cannabis

March 26: 2 point bags

March 28: Methamphetamine pipe

March 28: Cannabis, empty point bags

April 3: Needles for drug use

April 3: Cannabis

April 7: Credit card knife

April 8: Cannabis pipe, cannabis grinder, a knife and a wire used to ignite cannabis

April 23: Smoking pipe

April 30: Cannabis

April 30: Cannabis, cone piece, multi-tool, craft knife (containing cannabis residue), tinfoil wrapped glass thermometer

May 9: Credit card knife

May 12: Pepper spray

May 13: Cannabis

May 13: 1 round of ammunition, cannabis

May 14: Cannabis

May 14: Knuckleduster

May 15: Hose piece, cone piece

May 16: Cannabis

May 20: 1 round of ammunition

May 27: 1 gun, 1 knife

May 28: Scissors with cannabis residue, small knife and hose for drug use

June 3: Cannabis pipe

June 10: Cannabis

June 12: White powder

June 13: Kubotan

June 16: Cannabis

June 17: Cannabis

June 19: Drug paraphernalia (unspecified)

June 19: Glass, pipe, cannabis

June 23: Cannabis

June 23: Credit card knife

June 30: Punch knife

July 3: Cannabis utensils, needles, white residue

July 3: Glass pipe, knife

July 7: Bong

June 7: Cannabis, grinder, cone piece, white residue, butcher’s knife, bong

July 8: Knuckle duster ring

July 8: Methamphetamine

July 10: Screwdriver

July 15: Knuckle duster ring

July 17: Glass pipe

July 18: Drug paraphernalia

July 21: Knife

July 22: Glass pipe

July 23: Glass pipe, cannabis

July 28: Belt buckle knife

July 30: Cannabis pipe, cannabis

July 30: Cannabis, drug paraphernalia

August 5: Drug paraphernalia

August 7: Meth pipe

August 11: Cannabis, drug paraphernalia

August 14: Cone piece

August 18: Methamphetamine pipe

August 18: White powder

August 19: Cannabis

August 19: Knife

August 21: Kubotan

August 21: Methamphetamine, cannabis

August 27: Kubotan

August 27: 2 methamphetamine pipes, methamphetamine

August 28: Cannabis pipe

September 1: Knife

September 3: Cone piece

September 8: Knife

September 9: Knife

September 9: White powder, cone piece

September 15: Knife

September 15: Kubotan

September 16: Drug paraphernalia

September 17: Methamphetamine pipe

September 18; Cannabis, cannabis grinder

September 22: Cannabis

September 26: Drug pipe

September 26: Cone piece

September 26: Drug pipe

Items confiscated from the Tauranga Courthouse: October 2024 to September 2025

October 3: Knuckle dusters

October 7: Credit card knife

October 8: Cannabis grinder

October 8: Cannabis

October 14: Kubotan

October 17: Cannabis grinder

October 17: Cannabis, scissors with residue

October 17: Unidentified pills

October 17: Cannabis pipe

October 18: Three bags of cannabis, a small set of scales

October 21: Cone piece, empty point bag

October 29: Cannabis pipe

October 30: Cannabis, cannabis pipe

November 1: Taser

November 5: Key knife

November 8: Glass pipe

November 13: Kubotan

November 14: Small knife

November 21: White powder

November 25: White crystals, straws for drug use

November 29: Butterfly knife

November 29: Round of ammunition

December 13: Cannabis

December 19: Knife, can of beer

December 22: Garden sickle

December 24: Methamphetamine pipe, 3 point bags, small pocketknife

January 24: Small pocketknife

January 28: Methamphetamine pipe.

February 4: Key knife

February 5: Knuckledusters, knife, methamphetamine pipe

February 7: Cannabis

February 12: Methamphetamine pipe, 2 unidentified tablets

February 13: Switchblade

February 19: Kubotan

March 7: Craft blade with drug residue, hypodermic needle, tablets

March 11: Cannabis

April 1: Glass methamphetamine pipe

April 28: Knife, cannabis grinder, bong

April 28: Drug pipe, knife

April 29: Scissors with cannabis residue

May 2: Cannabis

May 2: Cannabis

May 22: Machete

May 29: Cannabis pipe

June 12: Cone piece for a bong

June 12: Key knife

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.