Wojciechowska v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2020] NSWCATAD 1

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Wojciechowska v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2020] NSWCATAD 1 Hearing dates: 8 October 2019 Date of orders: 08 January 2020 Decision date: 08 January 2020 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: C Ludlow, Senior Member Decision: (1) The supplementary decision of the respondent dated 22 August 2019 is affirmed. Catchwords: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION – government information – whether information held by agency – whether reasonable searches conducted. Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (NSW) Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) Cases Cited: Amos v Central Coast Council [2018] NSWCATAD 101 Camilleri v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2012] NSWADT 5 McClymont v Department of Family and Community Services [2017] NSWCATAD 202 Zonnevylle v Department of Finance, Services and Innovation [2017] NSWCATAD 186 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Paulina Wojciechowska (Applicant) Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: Applicant (Self Represented) Crown Solicitor (Respondent) File Number(s): 2019/00205731 Publication restriction: Nil

REASONS FOR DECISION 1. By consent of the parties, on 23 July 2019 the Tribunal directed that these proceedings were to be treated as an application for administrative review of the respondent's decision reference IASU2019-1225 made on 17 June 2019. 2. In her application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act), the applicant sought: "1. Definitions of terminology and abbreviations used in COPS such as 'Person of Interest', 'Victim', 'Occurrence', 'Status: verified' etc; 2. Rules governing when it is permitted to enter a person as a 'person of interest' and a 'victim'; 3. Rules regulating the creation of entries and data entries in COPS; 4. Manuals with rules how to use the COPS; 5. Internal policies of NSW Police or binding internal directives of NSW Police or its officials on investigating reports of destroyed vegetation on private land under ss 140 and 513 of Crimes Act 1900." 1. On 17 June 2019 the respondent determined that it did not hold information within the scope of point 5 of the request. In relation to points 1-4, one document referred to as the COPS User Guide was held, but access was refused in full. 2. On 22 August 2019, after the applicant had commenced these proceedings, the respondent made a supplementary decision which determined to release the COPS User Guide to the applicant and that no other documents within the scope of the application were held. 3. The applicant does not accept that the supplementary decision resolves the issues between the parties. She claims that as the User Guide provided to her dates from 2010, it does not fall within the scope of her application. She is seeking information which related to COPS entries which were created about her in August and September 2018, and the User Guide from 2010 does not apply to that period. While the application did not expressly refer to this, the applicant had submitted another related application (IASU2019-360). The applicant sought information in relation to these events. (IASU2019-360 is not under review in these proceedings.) 4. The applicant also seeks review of the respondent's decision on points 1 to 4 of her application, on the grounds that: 1. The COPS User Guide does not, as claimed by the respondent, provide information on those issues; and 2. The respondent's searches conducted for information in relation to points 1 to 4 was inadequate.