The Authority oversaw a Police investigation into a complaint that an officer looked up the complainant’s car registration on the Police database to access their phone number for a non-work purpose. The complainant alleged the officer had called to apologise to her about a personal matter and during the call told her that he had got her phone number from the Police database.
The complainant also alleged that the officer saw additional personal information about her in the Police database and shared this information with another person.
The officer involved admitted he accessed the complainant’s contact details on the Police database for the purpose described by the complainant. However, the officer denied accessing any other information relating to the complainant and asserted that he did not share any Police information with a third party.
The investigation involved an audit of the Police database that confirmed the officer had only accessed the contact details of the complainant and did not view any further Police records. The officer’s actions were found to be in breach of Police policy, and Police addressed this with an employment process.
The Authority is satisfied with the investigation undertaken and agrees with the outcome.
IPCA: 25-26471