Weeks before a gunman killed 50 Muslims in Christchurch, a man had threatened to burn copies of the Quran outside New Zealand mosques, in what community leaders said was the latest in a long list of threatening behavior against religious minorities.
Police said they warned a 38-year-old man over the incident, which was unrelated to the Christchurch attack, but could not say if it was part of a pattern.
That is because, unlike many Western countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, New Zealand's government keeps no comprehensive record of hate crimes, failing to act on requests to do so from local and international agencies spanning more than a decade.