Info swap to track 'bad' families

Agencies from at least four government departments are swapping information on "bad families" and storing their details on a database.

The database also gives and receives details from volunteer groups including Women's Refuge and Parentline. A more powerful prototype, proposed last year, was shelved because it contravened privacy legislation.

Police Minister Annette King has endorsed the programme and wants it expanded to cover the country.

"The families already have every which agency interacting with them anyway so they're on everybody's list," she said. "What it really does is bring all the info together to see how they can help the families.

"It's not to punish the families. It's to try to stop things happening before they have big problems."

Three pilot projects are being run by "family safety teams" in Auckland, Hamilton and the Wairarapa. The teams include personnel from the police, Child Youth and Family, Parentline and Women's Refuge. The organisations share information and keep records of all contact with at-risk families.

But privacy law expert Professor Paul Roth says the database is reminiscent of George Orwell's book 1984, which depicted an overbearing state that allowed citizens no privacy or freedom.

"It does seem to set a dangerous precedent that would really lead to Big Brother stuff."

Hamilton family safety team head Alan McGlade says the aim is to identify at-risk families early and only essential information is recorded. Project co-ordinator Donna Scott, would not reveal how many families had been identified.

A prototype for the project, put forward by police, went further. In a "Liberation from Violence" conference last year, Inspector Rex Birdsall detailed the "ideal state" for each family safety team. That included an integrated database of information on families and the ability to track their movements if they left the region. That plan would have contravened the Privacy Act.

Ms Scott said a detailed national database was still "years away".

But Mr Roth said the project is not in line with spirit of the Privacy Act, which is supposed to prevent government agencies from releasing information on citizens.

"The issue is, have there been so many hurt or killed to justify this intrusion into people's privacy, or is it just a political knee-jerk reaction? I would hope they made the calculation and said that it's worth it," he said.

Ms Scott said the project does not contravene the Privacy Act and teams can only share information gathered in the course of their duties.

Mr Roth said sharing information could have an impact on volunteer agencies. "If Rape Crisis is providing information to the police, that might not be a good idea as that could prejudice their future supply of information," he said. "Women might not want to tell their real names for fear it will be used against their husbands later."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY