A man was left "mortified" after receiving online harassment encouraged by a police officer who leaked his email address online
Mike and his partner have family members in the police and often discuss the problematic comments made on a Facebook page aimed at current and ex-serving police officers, but one day decided "enough was enough".
The Blue Line Banter NZ Facebook page is an unofficial Facebook page made by ex-police force members to enjoy humour and "poke fun" at the police.
A couple of weeks ago Mike saw comments made by a senior constable about the Police National Headquarters.
"Do PNHQ really give a s**t. All their interest is in building their own CVs," the senior constable wrote.
Mike said he thought the officer's managers should know that he is publicly making negative comments about them, but that backfired when the officer got hold of his email.
Mike started receiving emails from strangers including an email from the senior constable containing a photo of the infamous Oscars slap with the text "people who screenshot cops comments and send them to PNHQ" over top of the image of Chris Rock getting slapped.
When Mike saw a post on the Facebook page of the same image with a link to his email in the comment section he then realised where the emails were coming from.
"Admin you've made my day! Yes everybody this happened to me," the senior constable commented on the Facebook page. "I've been in the frontline for 40 years so stand by everything I say.
"Wouldn't it be funny if everyone sent 'Mike' an email."
The officer then linked Mike's email address underneath.
"This police harassment is all kinds of wrong," Mike said.
He emailed the police again to let them know and a spokesperson told Newshub they have spoken with the staff member.
"Police proactively attempted to contact the man in March to discuss any concerns he had in relation to comments made via a private Facebook group," the spokesperson said.
"At this time, the man is yet to respond.
"We have also spoken with the staff member concerned around the need for caution with any online commentary including those within private Facebook groups."
However, Mike told Newshub he had only received one email from the police after he reported the comments on the Facebook page, but none since his email address was put online.
According to Principle 11 of the Privacy Act 2020, Police should not disclose personal information they hold about you unless there is an exception such as authorised criminal checks or information necessary for a criminal investigation.
Shannon Parker, who runs the New Zealand Police Conduct Association, said it is disappointing to see a senior officer engaged in this practice.
"The fact is that a police officer has taken an email address he obtained through his employment and put it in the public domain, coupled with sending an email to a person that could be perceived as threatening," Parker said.
"I fail to see how this wouldn’t amount to a breach of the Police code of conduct, regardless this is not the behaviour that a professional agency would tolerate from an employee and you have to ask why Police have not taken this allegation seriously."
