Cop’s ‘curiosity’ over his ex costs him
A Sunshine Coast police officer who twice looked up records about an ex-girlfriend on the police computer system has been fined for computer hacking.
Police & Courts
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A Sunshine Coast police officer who twice looked up records about an ex-girlfriend on the police computer system has been fined $800 for computer hacking.
Brisbane Magistrate Rosemary Gilbert said there was clearly a conflict of interest when Aaron Caldwell accessed the information.
Caldwell 41, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using a restricted computer without the consent of the Queensland Police Commissioner, to gain the benefit of knowledge.
The court heard that before becoming a police officer, Caldwell had a 12-year military career, with four deployments overseas and he had received 10 military medals.
Caldwell, who is still in the Army Reserve, accessed information about a woman with whom he had been in a brief relationship, who was also in the Army Reserve, in June and November last year.
“You became aware of some information which you considered would be a security risk for that person continuing to be part of the Australian Army Reserve,” Ms Gilbert said.
“When you received that information, it seems you accessed the QPRIME records, in order to seek some verification of that.”
Ms Gilbert said the information could have been subject to a legitimate check by someone else, if he had reported it through Army Reserve or Queensland Police Service chain of command.
“It, in my mind, demonstrates a serious lack of judgment on your part,” Ms Gilbert said.
She said Caldwell was considered to be a good soldier who was well regarded.
“It’s hard to see how you could have exercised such a lack of judgment, in doing what you did,” Ms Gilbert said.
She said Caldwell was rightly concerned about his reputation being tarnished.
Ms Gilbert said the information he received was not disseminated to others who might have derived benefit from it.
“It seems indeed unfortunate that you had concerns about the impact of this information on security, but in fact you didn’t report it to someone who could in fact do something with the information.
“You finding out the information achieved basically nothing. You didn’t take that information anywhere.”
Police prosecutor Acting Sergeant Lauren Collins said it was more a case of imprudent curiosity.
Lawyer Calvin Gnech said ethics and character were of the utmost importance to Caldwell.
He said Caldwell had been stood down from duty and would face police disciplinary action that could result in a demotion or a fine.
Ms Gilbert did not record a conviction, having regard to the “extreme unlikelihood” of Caldwell repeating the offence.