South Island Cop charged with dishonestly accessing police database to search rape complainant’s info

A South Island detective has been charged with dishonestly accessing the national police database to gain information about a sexual abuse complainant’s police investigation.

The man has interim name suppression and has been remanded at large.

Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill said the officer remained employed, but an employment process was ongoing.

“Given there are matters before the courts, we are unable to make further comment.”

The detective is facing two charges of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes.

One of the charges is for accessing the Investigation Management Tool (IMT) database to search information related to a sexual abuse complainant.

The other charge is for dishonestly accessing the police National Intelligence Application (NIA) to gain information on the same complainant.

He is accused of accessing IMT five times and NIA six times.

Both charges carry a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment.

The detective is due to appear in court next month.

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