Two former Queensland police officers have been sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court after a CMC investigation found they accessed confidential information and released it to a relative who was a private investigator.
41-year-old Miranda O’Neill and 54-year-old David O’Neill, both from Redcliffe, were working as Detective Senior Constables at the Redcliffe Police Station north of Brisbane when they accessed confidential information from the Queensland Police Service (QPS) database.
CMC investigators found the husband and wife provided the information to private investigator Jon Robinson, who is Miranda O’Neill’s brother-in-law.
Robinson then used the information – including car registration details, addresses and criminal history records – to assist with his work as a private investigator.
David O’Neill today pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to seven counts of computer hacking and misuse, contrary to section 408E of the Queensland Criminal Code. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment, wholly suspended for 15 months.
Miranda O’Neill pleaded guilty to 14 counts of computer hacking and misuse and was given two and a half years probation.
44-year-old Robinson from Pacific Pines also appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court today, where he pleaded guilty to 21 counts of computer hacking and misuse. He was given 18 months probation and 240 hours community service.
The CMC’s Acting Assistant Commissioner Misconduct, Paxton Booth, warned Queensland’s public sector employees that inappropriately releasing confidential information could have very serious consequences.
“If Queensland public sector employees access or release sensitive or confidential information without an official purpose, they may be committing a criminal offence,” Mr Booth said.
“Public servants who have access to confidential information must understand that with that access comes a responsibility to deal with the information lawfully.
“The information cannot be disclosed to a complete stranger and public servants need to realise that releasing it to a friend or relative is no different.”
Mr Booth said about seven per cent of allegations made to the CMC’s misconduct area in recent years related to information control.
“Members of the public have every right to expect that their private information is not being accessed by or disclosed to anyone who does not have a legitimate and lawful reason to access it,” he said.
