An officer used the police database like a “social media application” to snoop on his partner, family members, friends, neighbours, people he saw on social media, other police officers and gang members he had no reason to be investigating.
A police investigation overseen by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found that the officer had made more than 39,850 database searches over 21 months, including around 7000 while he was off duty.
It identified a “pattern of behaviour” in which the officer scrolled through the database for long periods of time.
The IPCA said he used the database “as if it were a social media application”.
“The officer continued to conduct inappropriate searches even after police advised him he was under investigation,” the IPCA said.
The officer said he had lost control of the ability to use the database appropriately due to “personal issues”, but he was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for searching up gang members and other police staff.
“The officer could not explain why he was viewing database records of people currently imprisoned that he had not dealt with in his business capacity as a police officer, nor could he explain why he was querying gang members located throughout New Zealand,” the IPCA said.
“The investigator concluded that the officer entered those names directly into the database application and had to have known those names to be able to query them.”
The IPCA told police that in its assessment, there were “grounds for considering laying criminal charges” and beginning an employment process.
Police didn’t carry out a criminal investigation but started an employment process.
The IPCA also told police it believed the employment investigation had been compromised “by reason of an apparent or actual conflict of interest”.
This was because the officer responsible for the outcome had a working relationship with a “close family member” of the officer under scrutiny.
“Police disagreed that this gave rise to any conflict of interest,” IPCA said.
Following its employment investigation, police proposed the officer be dismissed for “serious misconduct”.
He ultimately resigned, and the serious misconduct and proposed dismissal were noted on his personnel file.
In a statement, police said: “Police guidelines regarding use of the National Intelligence Application (NIA) and other Police systems are very clear. Staff are aware their use of NIA is subject to regular audits to ensure legitimate use.”
“In this instance, we note the staff member continued to conduct inappropriate searches after he was warned he was under investigation.
“Police conducted an employment process, however, the staff member resigned before this concluded.”
