Tasmania’s Police Association president suspects Tasmania Police is trying to stifle role of union after database ban

What the Police Association first thought was an IT glitch accessing the force’s internal database was actually a deliberate lock-out, says union president Colin Riley.

Detective Inspector Colin Riley.

POLICE Association president Colin Riley says he suspects Tasmania Police is trying to stifle the role of the union after his access to the force’s internal database was cut off without notice.

Inspector Riley and association assistant secretary Senior Sergeant Andrew Bennett were notified they’d been booted from the police system after reporting what they thought were IT faults to a technician in the week of May 27.

MORE NEWS:

JOB CUTS ON THE TABLE IN PS PAY FIGHT

WHY NOT GIVE SKIPPY THE SNIP?

TASSIE SNAPPERS COME UP TRUMPS

Their station swipe cards were also deactivated, despite no mention of any access removal on their secondment agreements signed in January.

“The PAT presidents have had access to these systems for over a decade,” Insp Riley told the Mercury.

“There is a legitimate argument that really should have been considered in the decision making, which we would have provided had consultation occurred.”

Three separate requests to reverse the decision have been made by the association so far.

Insp Riley said having limited or no access to policies, guidelines, plans, emails, telephone directory and the “internal” police manual would adversely affect members.

“The agency has the ability to remove access to specific sensitive police databases on the tablets and audit if any access occurs with these,” he said.

“My suspicion is that removal of access is more about stifling the role of the PAT looking after the wellbeing of our members, while holding the agency to account for these matters. Unfortunately this decision impacts on the support we can provide to members.”

Deputy Commissioner Scott Tilyard conceded the association should have been told about the system changes beforehand but denied the updated policy was personal.

Deputy Commissioner Scott Tilyard

He said the decision to revoke the PAT’s access was part of a wider policy review and applied to most members seconded outside of Tasmania Police or on approved extended absences.

“There are some exceptions on that list depending on the organisation the person is working for but that doesn’t apply in the cases of Colin and Andrew because they don’t have a legitimate work-related reason,” he said.

“We need to be more controlled in terms of who we allow to access our systems and under what circumstances.

“They can ask us for any information they want, but if you look at the argument they’re trying to run then every union should have access to the systems their members work in.”

He said he it appeared the association did not want to “genuinely” work with the department.

“There’s better ways to work collaboratively and together that will achieve better outcomes for their members,” Deputy Commissioner Tilyard said.