Officials Too Zealous in Pursuit of Unpaid Fines

By VENTER, Nick

AIRPORT officials have been rapped over the knuckles by the Privacy Commissioner for stopping innocent travellers on suspicion that they might have unpaid fines or court-ordered reparations.

Commissioner Marie Shroff detailed three instances of airport police intercepting the wrong people at airports in her annual report. All three happened as a result of problems with a new data- matching programme between the Justice Ministry and Customs Service.

In one case, a woman was stopped by police at Auckland airport in February because she had the same birth date and a similar name to a fines defaulter sought by the Justice Ministry.

The woman convinced the police they had the wrong person but, because of “procedural errors”, she was forced to present her passport to a district court to prove she was not the person the ministry sought.

Further administrative errors resulted in the court issuing a warrant to seize her property. It was only when a bailiff visited her home that she was able to clear up the misunderstanding.

Ms Shroff also said that a planeload of Australian-bound travellers was delayed for half an hour at Auckland airport in May when police recalled an aircraft to the terminal so they could intercept a man who had $7000 in unpaid fines. A woman who had already paid her overdue fines was also stopped by police at Auckland airport in October last year.

The commissioner, who vets government data-matching programmes, said the incidents “raised concerns about the quality of the matching results being acted upon and the impact on innocent travellers who have to prove their identity to the police”.

However, Courts Minister Rick Barker said he had no plans to scrap a “fabulous” initiative that had resulted in $2.5 million of fines and reparations being paid in its first 10 months of operation.

Steps were being taken to ensure the errors identified by the commissioner did not happen again.

Mr Barker said he was so pleased with the results of the programme that he wanted to lower the financial thresholds for interception.

Not only were overpaid fines being collected at airports, but debtors were presenting themselves at court to pay their fines before going overseas. In one case, a man owing $16,000 had gone to court in Whangarei to pay the fine in full so he could go to Australia to get married.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said the ministry had apologised to the woman forced to go to court to prove her identity. The man stopped at Auckland airport owing $7000 in fines had used a credit card to clear the debt and had then been able to reboard his flight.

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Q & A

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* What is the Customs/Justice fines defaulters alerts match?

A system to let collections staff collect unpaid fines and court- ordered reparations from people leaving and entering the country.

* How does it work?

The Justice Ministry sends the Customs Service a daily list of serious defaulters. If a traveller’s details match those on the list an alert is triggered when his or her passport is scanned at the airport. Depending on the amount owed and whether any reparations are outstanding, the person is either stopped by police and given a choice of paying or being arrested, or their details are forwarded to the Justice Ministry and Immigration Service for future action.

(c) 2007 Dominion Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.