Police checking with Australia over leaked secret information

New Zealand police were today asking their Western Australian counterparts for details of leaked secret computer files containing confidential information on thousands of police officers on both sides of the Tasman.

A spokesman from Police National Headquarters said preliminary advice was that any information on officers outside of Western Australia had been gleaned from open sources such as the news media and internet and was of a generalised nature.

The police would today be focusing on what information the Auckland file contained.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor says the leaked secret computer files containing confidential information on thousands of police officers in Australia and New Zealand are largely "innocuous".

The files obtained by the Perth-based Sunday Times newspaper and passed to police yesterday contain information such as the names of the partners and children of serving police officers, nicknames, allegations of misconduct and personal preferences.

More than 3500 WA police are named as well as thousands of officers from every state of Australia and from New Zealand.

Details on railway guards is also included on the files, as are the registration details of unmarked police cars and prison transport vehicles.

But Mr O'Connor said today the information on non-Western Australian officers was generally information that could have been gained off the internet and other public sources.

"They are relatively innocuous statements," Mr O'Connor told National Radio this morning.

WA Police acting deputy commissioner Murray Lampard said police were taking the computer files seriously and were keen to discover the source of the detailed and bizarre collection of facts and comments contained in the database.

He said some of the information contained in the files was accurate and could only have been available to someone working within the police force.

"A lot of the information seems to have stopped at 2003."

Mr O'Connor said the information would have been compiled because organised crime, such as Hell's Angels, keep information on police. This included "things like getting hold of police wing magazines with photographs".

He said it looked like someone within the police may have seen it as an "entrepreneurial opportunity" to sell the information.

"Someone may want to buy it further down the track and there are people who would, certainly if there were any details about New Zealand police would buy that within New Zealand."

He said he was "confident" that information between New Zealand and Australian police would be shared in any investigation stemming from the incident.

New Zealand police officers were always aware that any information about them would be studied by criminal groups, he said.

"We have found information on databases and on hardcopies when we've done search warrants. "

But Mr O'Connor said he had not ever come across spying from inside the force.

"And that's probably the new concern is that people inside are collecting information -- obviously they are going to have a big advantage -- and that same sort of information would certainly be sought by criminal groups in New Zealand."

- NZPA