Man’s licence used in police training
At least 30 others allegedly used
Aman ticketed with a driving offence has discovered police college trainees used his licence and, he says, those of at least 30 others.
The Privacy Commissioner says it could be a Privacy Act issue.
Dave Christensen says he went through an a “nightmare” after receiving an infringement notice in the mail in April for driving with a cellphone.
Christensen did not own the Holden car identified on the infringe- ment notice and on the day was taking a busload of children to school camp in Otaki.
After weeks of contacting the Ministry of Justice, the agency which deals with transport tickets, he contacted the Herald.
Last month police admitted a new recruit had accidentally issued Christensen a ticket during a training exercise.
When asked how it happened, Superintendent Steve Greally, national road policing manager, said the ticket was accidentally created in the “live” OnDuty app as opposed to the training version.
But Christensen said that late last year he surrendered a spare licence he had been using while waiting for a new one endorsed with his P licence. He said he questioned a senior officer who visited him at home last month and who confirmed the college had been using his licence.
Christensen claims he was told the college had used about 30 other licences belonging to members of the public: “It’s really false pretences in a way. I’ve mentioned it to a few people and they’re flabbergasted.”
Although he had an inkling that police trainees had been using his licence “I never, ever imagined that’s what they would do”.
“I don’t think they should be have been doing that full stop. It’s not being honest, is it?”
Christensen said he was assured by the visiting officer the practice had since been scrapped.
A police spokesman confirmed police had been using the licences but could not confirm the exact number. He said they had been using licences belonging to members of the public since officers started using iPhones on the job. The roll-out began in 2013.
The spokesman confirmed police had since stopped using real licences as part of training.
A Privacy Commissioner’s Office spokesman said the incident “may raise issues under the Privacy Act”.
A press secretary for Police Minister Stuart Nash said the minister would not comment because it was “an operational issue for police themselves”.