Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Landmark privacy case from the Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has released its unanimous decision about Police photography during a random traffic stop.
The decision discusses a range of privacy law including the Privacy Act and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, which includes the protection of a person’s “reasonable expectation of privacy” under the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure (section 21).
The Court found that taking and retaining Mr Tamiefuna’s photographs for identification purposes without a good law enforcement reason was a “search” by the Police.
Because the search was found to be unreasonable, the Police photographs breached his rights under section 21 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
The court discusses the relevant privacy principles (IPPs 1, 3 and 9) under the Privacy Act and makes an important connection between the privacy principles and the Bill of Rights Act:
“the principles must be relevant to the judgment of a court considering what reasonable expectations of privacy ought to encompass in accordance with modern societal expectations”.
The Court of Appeal took note of the joint report of the Privacy Commissioner and the Independent Police Conduct Authority released in September 2022 – taking photographs at traffic stops was one of the policing scenarios the joint report assessed.
The decision is available on the Courts of New Zealand website.