South Australia received 100 complaints about police data misuses last year

Sackings may be an option for serious abuses, says top cop

South Australia's police commissioner has said he fields 100 complaints a year regarding inappropriate data access by police officers.

Commissioner Grant Stevens was speaking to the state parliament's budget and finance committee on Monday.

Abuse of data access has become a hot topic in South Australia in the wake of a murder investigation. After former Adelaide Crows Australian coach Phil Walsh was stabbed to death, his son, Cy Walsh, was taken to Flinders Medical Centre for assessment.

Between his arrival and the decision to arrest him, 21 clinicians and other staff accessed his health records without authorisation. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that SA Health's CEO has warned staff they will face dismissal for future breaches.

Two SA Health staff have already been dismissed over the issue.

The outrage – and potential risk to Cy Walsh's trial – has brought data privacy to the attention of parliament, and that's what brought Commissioner Stevens to the committee.

The ABC says he told the committee the police might adopt the SA Health staff and disclosure policies.

He told the committee breaches by police officers ranged from people using systems without authorisation, but only checking their own information (license or car registration details), to serious breaches of confidential information relating to investigations.

Stevens told the committee in serious cases, even without a breach of criminal law, “termination certainly would be a consideration”.

Vulture South notes that police around the country have a poor record when it comes to misusing data held on their systems. ®