The Authority oversaw a Police investigation into allegations that an employee misused the Police database by looking up profiles of people in her wider cultural community, for no legitimate work purpose.
Police conducted an extensive audit of transactions the staff member had made over a period of her 15 months with Police. They found the first query had been conducted within her first five days of working for Police.
Police established the staff member had made 62 queries relating to 16 individuals, for no work purpose. The staff member had also viewed the dossiers of entities linked to the individuals. In total, 333 queries were likely to be illegitimate in nature. While the 16 individuals were members of the staff member’s wider community, there was no evidence she was directly linked or associated with them.
The staff member explained she had initially made the queries as a form of self-initiated training, to familiarise herself with the Police database. She said she believed if she knew the person and those linked to them, it would help with her training. The staff member admitted that after completing her training, she continued querying the individuals out of curiosity.
Police found no evidence to suggest the staff member had any criminal intent or had engaged in criminal behaviour. However, they found she had breached Police policy and the Police Code of Conduct and values. We agree with the outcome of the employment process.
IPCA: 24-21568