Search for the unknown

Cop who looked up netball star Geitz on database said he didn’t know who she was

A GOLD Coast cop has been fined for using the police database to snoop on the personal details of dozens of people, including Australian netball star Laura Geitz.

Broadbeach police sergeant Stephen Patrick Wright, 40, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to using the Queensland Police Service QPRIME computer database 80 times to access personal de- tails of school friends, family members and Commonwealth Games ambassador Ms Geitz.

He was yesterday fined $4000 and had no conviction recorded for hacking into a work computer and looking up personal details between April and October last year.

Wright was stood down from active duty following the charges and has been “tasked to perform non-operational duties” since November.

However the court heard Wright had been on sick leave since being stood down and medically retired from the QPS as of yesterday.

Police prosecutor senior sergeant Eric Engwirda told the court Wright had searched the database for “personal use not police business”.

“There was no proper basis to access that information,” he said.

Queensland Police Union lawyer Calvin Gnech said Wright had a “blossoming professional career” and was considered as “professional and ethical” after entering the police force in 2004.

The married father-of-three rose to the rank of sergeant after just six years in the force, the court was told.

The court heard Wright began to struggle with his mental health while stationed in Surfers Paradise after attending several suicides, including one of a friend, and another where a man had jumped from a seventh floor building.

“He is a broken man ... with suicidal tendencies,” Mr Gnech said. “He won’t work again.”

The court heard Wright did not remember conducting many of the searches and did them as a means of keeping an eye on people he had lost contact with.

“When interviewed he claimed he did not know who the Australian netball captain was,” Mr Gnech said.

Magistrate Gary Finger said he was “concerned” about the “amount of times” Wright had accessed the database but conceded the offending was motivated by his mental health problems.

“I accept you accessed (the database) largely out of curiosity and (were) checking on the welfare of people due to a period of mental illness,” he said. “Why you would access information about Laura Geitz, well who knows?”

Wright was handed a $4000 fine for computer hacking using a restricted computer without consent.

He had no conviction recorded.