Privacy law aids fugitives
Paula Doneman and Simon Lomax
30jan02
The Courier Mail
NEW privacy laws are playing havoc with police efforts to track down suspects wanted for serious crimes.
Problems with the new laws were exposed during the hunt for a man who allegedly bashed and raped a Japanese tourist in Noosa national park on Christmas Day.
The ANZ Bank placed an electronic trace on the man's bank account at the request of police but later reversed its decision claiming it invaded the privacy of the client.
The Queensland Police Union and a leading criminal lawyer predicted the legislation would hinder efforts to track down fugitives and called for amendments.
Police investigating the Noosa rape arranged with the local ANZ bank branch to place an electronic "flag" on the account of the man they believed committed the rape.
This would have allowed bank staff to immediately tell police when and where the suspect gained access to his account. But within days the bank's internal security division in Sydney removed the flag, citing privacy concerns.
Detectives who believed the suspect was heading towards Coffs Harbour notified police in the NSW central coast town.
It is believed the "flag" was returned to the local ANZ branch at the request of local police on January 9.
When the bank put the trace back they found the suspect had withdrawn money that day and told staff he would be back in a fortnight for welfare payments.
When he returned on January 23, the alleged rapist was arrested and extradited to Queensland to face court.
Police sources told The Courier-Mail yesterday that the decision to remove the trace contravened a long-standing arrangement between bank staff and investigators of serious crimes.
An officer said that if Coffs Harbour bank staff had not ignored the decision from head office, the suspect could still be on the run.
"The suspect's bank account was the best link to finding him as he could not be physically located," the officer said. "Issuing a search warrant for a notice to produce documents does not provide us with an up-to-date notification - it can take days for the bank to notify us."
QUT School of Justice Studies head Michael Barnes said helping police solve serious crimes was more important than the conf-identiality of clients.
"Banks should put to one side their commercial interests in favour of the public interest that is served by co-operating with police involved in the investigation of serious offences," he said.
Mr Barnes, a practising criminal lawyer, said the bank's legal concerns were justified and recommended privacy laws be streamlined to speed up the process of police using warrants to gain information. But there should be safeguards against misuse of information.
Police Union president Gary Wilkinson said the bank's actions had been ludicrous and if repeated would hinder investigation of serious crime.
"I suspect the banks are more concerned about civil litigation than the capture of a violent criminal," he said.
A spokesman for ANZ was unable to comment on the case but said the bank could not ignore privacy concerns.
"We are very happy to cooperate with police where we have a proper process to allow us to override privacy legislation," he said.