The Authority oversaw two Police investigations into allegations that an officer inappropriately accessed Police information without a work-related purpose on multiple occasions.
The initial investigation commenced after Police found a significant number of messages sent to and from an officer on a suspect’s phone. The large number of messages shared between the suspect and the officer indicated they had a closer relationship than the officer had suggested. Police were concerned with how the officer was managing information he was privy to as part of his role and commenced a criminal and employment investigation.
Police identified the officer had accessed the Police database for non-work-related reasons but did not find evidence that the officer shared this information with a third party. Police concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge the officer with a criminal offence.
Police then completed an employment process and found the officer’s actions were in breach of Police policy and the Code of Conduct. These concerns were addressed in an employment process.
The second investigation commenced after the officer transferred a large number of files from a Police computer to a personal external hard drive over several days, triggering an alert to the Police cyber security team. Of these files, two thirds were work-related and one third related to personal files the officer kept on his work laptop.
Police found that there was no legitimate work-related reason for the extraction of files and that the removal of these files posed a significant risk to Police operations as many of the documents were sensitive. They also found that the officer’s actions were in breach of Police policy and the Code of Conduct. However, the officer resigned before the employment process concluded.
The Authority accepts that these employment processes were conducted adequately and is satisfied with the outcomes reached.
IPCA 20-5639 & 25-26595