Waikato police officer breached conduct with 1700 off-duty database queries

An audit of the police officer's use of the database found around 1700 searches over a 19-month period that were not work-related. Image / Getty Images

A police officer made around 1700 checks of a person on the police database while off-duty for non-work-related reasons, claiming they believed doing so would make them a “good cop”.

The Waikato officer’s actions led to an investigation that involved an audit of their use of the database.

It identified around 1700 queries conducted by the officer between March 2023 to October 2024 while off-duty, according to a report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).

The investigation found that, except for “a check that was probably work-related”, the officer did not have a work-related reason for any of the queries.

As a result, it was found their actions breached police policy and the code of conduct.

The officer acknowledged that their use of the database was wrong.

They said the checks were for their own information, as they mistakenly believed it would make them a “good cop”.

An employment process was undertaken to address the breaches.

The IPCA’s investigation report said the authority oversaw the police investigation and agreed with the outcome, which was not mentioned in the report.

But the authority considered there was sufficient information available to suspect the officer had committed an offence under the Crimes Act by accessing the database for non-work-related reasons.

“Accordingly, the Authority recommended that Police conduct a criminal investigation as well as an employment investigation at the start of their process,” the report said.

Relieving Waikato District Commander Superintendent Scott Gemmell said police considered the case did not meet the threshold for prosecution and the officer was subject to an employment process.

“NZ police rightly hold all staff to high standards. The misuse of the National Intelligence Application [NIA] is not tolerated and if an employee is found to have inappropriately accessed or misused information, a disciplinary process with appropriate sanctions will be applied.”

Relieving Waikato District Commander Superintendent Scott Gemmell said police considered the case did not meet the threshold for prosecution. Photo / Dean Purcell

However, Gemmell did not provide the outcome of the process.

“Police have the same privacy obligations as any employer, and as such, does not comment on individual employment matters.”

He said police were focused on performance improvement and expectation setting and this year all staff had been “firmly” reminded that NIA searches must be conducted for legitimate work-related purposes only.

The IPCA’s report came within days of it being revealed that 50 police employees snooped into the file relating to the death of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming without good reason.

An Official Information Act request released to NZME confirmed there have been 76 instances of misuse of the database this year.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.