Police upset about computer claims

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 1

Police upset about computer claims

The police have reacted sharply to assertions in “The Press” yesterday by a retired police sergeant of abuses of the Wanganui computer link. According to the sergeant, police misuse of the national computer is fairly common. Information obtained ranged from finding out the names of women seen

in cars to supplying information to vehicle repossession agents, he said. 1

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Malcolm Churches, said from Wellington yesterday that he was disappointed that, a sergeant who seemed to have been lax as a supervisor should now anonymously swipe at the system. ...

“If he had done his job properly and reported those who he claimed were involved in repossession they would have been dealt with.

“The tighter regulations he says are needed would be ineffective in the face of such dereliction of duty,” said Mr Churches. The computer issue should be put back into its

proper perspective, he said.

It was an “extremely convenient law-enforce-ment system.” It processed 45,000 queries every day. It contained nothing that was not available to the police on manual records before being introduced.

Mr Churches said that this made nonsense of the retired sergeant’s claim that he obtained information on his family and relatives that he would not have known otherwise.

The machine merely made access quicker and more convenient. f It should also be remembered that it was not unlawful for the police to have access to the computer, he said. An officer

breached the act only if he passed on such information to someone who was not authorised to have it.

Mr Churches said that if information was misused, such as in the repossession claim, the police internal disciplinary code would be breached. He said that he had complete confidence that the computer was totally secure from unauthorised access.

“The sergeant’s allegations refer to the misuse of information lawfully obtained.

“Staff throughout the country know full well the consequences of breaches of the Wanganui Computer Centre Act and they

know that if they are caught their jobs are in real jeopardy,” Mr Churches said. He said he was satisfied that the claim of widespread misuse was nonsense. Fourteen allegations of misuse were investigated between January, 1985, and January, this year. In three cases the persons investigated were exonerated and three others were still under investigation. In the other cases there were no prosecutions because they were

not serious enough to warrant criminal proceedings, he said. Two of those cases were referred to the office of the Solicitor-Gen-eral, who declined permission to prosecute. Others were resolved by internal disciplinary action or resignations. Mr Churches said that the informant was wrong when he said that terminals were too easily accessible. The police had staff who should and could be trusted with a system which was a valuable aid in maintaining the law. Further report, page 2