When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury, telling his bank he was suspected of "computer fraud" in order to obtain his records. The bank subsequently cut off his accounts, and the resulting stress caused significant hardship. But now, the Police have admitted wrongdoing, apologised, and paid damages:
An apology has been made by police to blogger Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury after officers investigating the identity of the hacker Rawshark used a loophole in the Privacy Act to unlawfully access his private information.
[...]
A letter to Bradbury from police said: "Police apologise for the stress and other psychological harm caused to you by virtue of your involvement in this investigation."Police accept that you were not involved in 'computer fraud' and that you were not involved in the hack of Mr Slater's accounts.
"Police have also agreed to pay damages as part of the settlement of your claim, and to destroy the information received from the banks."
Good. And given the harm caused, I hope the settlement is substantial. But as with Hager, damages don't seem like enough. The Police broke the law. The officers who planned and oversaw that deliberate and vindictive lawbreaking need to be fired.
