Rights 'given away easily' says outgoing Privacy Commissioner

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Politicians eager to appear tough on crime are giving away people's rights too easily, says the outgoing Privacy Commissioner.

"Police usually have an agenda of powers they are willing to assume given the chance," said Bruce Slane.

"You now have the phenomenon of some parliamentary committees prepared to give away rights more rapidly than the bureaucrats were initially asking for or thought they could get away with."

But Mr Slane's comments have been rejected as "politically correct bullshit" by the deputy chairman of Parliament's law and order select committee, United Future MP Marc Alexander.

In a bill before Parliament, the committee has recommended giving police the power to take DNA samples from a greater range of criminal suspects than police asked for.

Mr Alexander said that if it was up to him, DNA samples would be taken from everyone arrested, in the same way as fingerprints were taken.

Mr Slane, who the Government announced this week would retire in September and be replaced by Cabinet secretary Marie Shroff, said some politicians competed to appear as if they were cracking down on crime hardest.

"Certainly, there is a bigger constituency for anything that sounds tough.

"It happens because the community fears crime, particularly as it affects the householder, and there is a tendency to say this will be solved if you give police more powers."

Anyone who raised an objection was asked why they were trying to protect the rights of criminals.

"What you're trying to protect is the rights of the innocent who are not criminals but are going to be subjected to the same regime as the criminals."

The phrase "civil liberties" was sneered at, said Mr Slane.

Mr Alexander said he did not blame people for sneering at civil libertarians.

"What people like this Privacy Commissioner are talking about is holding sacrosanct the rights of offenders over and above those of the innocent. That ceases to function in the interest of the community any more."

He said the law and order committee had agreed to extend the list of crimes covered by the DNA legislation because police needed a greater arsenal of crime-fighting tools.

"The bureaucrats thought there would be a huge resistance to opening it up so they asked for a lot less than they wanted originally, thinking it was better to get a little bit than going for what they really wanted.

"When we showed our willingness to go after crime, then the whole thing was opened up."

Mr Alexander said if some innocent people's rights were infringed in the process, then so be it.

"If it unfortunately over-reaches in a few select cases, that's the price we have to pay for the greater goal of looking after the rights of the innocent."