Hula v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2013] NSWADT 153

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Hula v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2013] NSWADT 153 Hearing dates: On the papers Decision date: 08 July 2013 Jurisdiction: General Division Before: Naida Isenberg, Judicial member Decision: The decision under review is affirmed. Catchwords: government information - personal information - missing documents - police notebooks - adequacy of search Legislation Cited: Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Freedom of Information Act 1989 Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 Cases Cited: Commissioner of Police v Camilleri [2012] NSWADTAP 19 Flack v Commissioner of Police [2011] NSWADT 286 Hurst v Wagga Wagga City Council [2011] NSWADT 307 Director General, Department of Education & Training v Mullett & Anor (GD) [2002] NSWADTAP 13 NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing v Fahey [2012] NSWADTAP 55 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Roman Hula (Applicant) Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (Respondent) Representation: R Hula (Applicant in person) Sparke Helmore (Respondent) File Number(s): 133005

reasons for decision

Background 1On 22 October 2012 the Applicant, Roman Hula, made an application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) for access to government information which he believed was held by the Respondent: (a)CAD: 462901-24082012 000 Call recording, and Photographs of my facial injuries taken by Mascot PS PROCON WRIGHT & Police Note Book entries of CON EVERSON respectively related to COPS No: E50973189 an 24/08/2012 event, i.e. Braking in Entry (Not Trespass), Physical Assault, and Property Theft (More like AGR. Robbery) at applicant's address. (b)CAD: withheld-25082012 000 Call recording, and Police Notebook entries (not summary reports) of Mascot PS PROCON KUEK & CON NIGHTINGALE also related to COPS No: E50973189 a following morning 25/08/2012 event, i.e. Braking In Entry (No trespass), Physical Assault, and Property Theft (More like AGR. Robbery) at applicant's address. (c)CAD: 451316-22082012 000 Call recording, and Police Notebook entries (not summary report) of Mascot PS CON DENNISON & CON MURTEZANI related to COPS No: E48770647 an 22/08/2012 event, i.e. Continuous Harassment & Assault at applicant's address. (d)CAD: 315964-28072012 000 Call recording, and Police Notebook entries (not summary report) of Mascot PS CON NIGHTINGALE related to COPS No: E48244224 an 28/07/2012 event, i.e. Continuous Harassment & Assault at applicant's address. (e)Police Notebook entries, COPS Event #, & Summary reports (not 000 Call CD audio) of SENCON MONAGHAN & CON LOGUE related to 12/07/2012 000 call for assistance from (02) 9349 2590 @ 22:54 at applicant's address. (f)Police Notebook entries, COPS Event #, & Summary reports (not 000 Call CD audio) of Mascot PS PROCON HARPER & CON BOJE related to 08/07/2012 000 Call for assistance from (02) 9349 2590 @ 18:18 at applicant's address. 2The Respondent determined that, after conducting searches, it held some information that fell within the scope of the access application and provided the applicant with some of the relevant documents. It concluded that two documents (COPS Event Number E50973189 and police notebook entry F526173 of Constable Wright) should only be released in part, on the basis that there was an overriding public interest against disclosure because the information withheld contained personal information relating to individuals other than the Applicant (Table 3(a) s.14 GIPA Act), or that it would prejudice the detection or investigation of a contravention of the law: Table 2(b) s.14 GIPA Act. Photographs requested by the Applicant were also not supplied at that time. 3When the Applicant sought review by the Tribunal he added a further request for additional information which had not been sought in the access application, namely the notebook entries of Constable White related to COPS Event E50973189. The Respondent made a supplementary determination wherein it reconsidered its previous findings and released (in full) relevant pages from Constable Wright's notebook and photocopies of the photographs requested in the access application. 4The Respondent also determined that it did not hold any of the following records of notebook entries sought in the access application: (a)Constable Monaghan and Logue (with reference to CAD 232259) (b)Probationary Constable Harper and Constable Boje (with reference to CAD 211175) (c)Constable White and Constable Everson (with reference to COPS No: E50973189) (d)Constable Nightingale (with reference to COPS No: E50973189 and E48244224), and (e)Constable Murtezani (with reference to COPS No: E48770647). 5The Respondent provided to the Tribunal, on a confidential basis, a copy of the notebooks of those officers.