A man complained that the police disclosed information to the news media about his involvement in a traffic accident.

The police said that their policy is to release the name and age, where known, of a person who has been killed or injured in an accident as soon as possible after the relatives had been informed. They submitted that the public interest requires them to allay concern in members of the public that the (as yet unnamed) individual might be a friend or relative. They noted that the media can be very quick to report accidents, which can increase public concern and enquiries of the emergency services if the person is not named.

In this case a reporter had asked the police officer in charge for information about the accident. He had disclosed the information pursuant to the Official Information Act.

The purpose of the Official Information Act is to make official information more freely available and to protect it to the extent consistent with the public interest and the preservation of personal privacy. Section 9(2)(a) of the Official Information Act allows information to be withheld if that is necessary to protect a person's privacy. However, that might be outweighed by other considerations which make it desirable in the public interest to release the information ( section 9(1)).

Section 7(1) of the Privacy Act provides that nothing in principle 11 (which limits disclosure of personal information) derogates from any provision in an enactment which authorises or requires personal information to be made available.

The Official Information Act authorises - and may even require - public sector agencies such as the police to make personal information available upon request. A request was received in this instance, so the Official Information Act applied to the release. Therefore, the disclosure did not breach principle 11.

I discontinued my investigation.

Indexing terms: Disclosure of personal information - New Zealand Police - Accident information released to news media - Official Information Act 1982, s 9 - Privacy Act 1993, s 7(1) - Information privacy principle 11

October 1998