Cudmore and Department of Police

Cudmore and Queensland Police Service
(1999 S0025, 18 January 2000) 

The applicant sought review of a decision by the respondent that it did not hold any documents which specifically authorised officers of the respondent to speak to the media in connection with the applicant and certain offences which he was alleged to have committed.  The respondent maintained that no such documents would ever have existed, as the respondent's Operational Procedures Manual (OPM) contained a general authority for officers to speak to the media in appropriate circumstances. 

Although the applicant insisted that this authority was insufficient for the making of statements concerning himself, and that there should have been further documentation, the Information Commissioner found no evidence that such further documentation was necessary, or that it ever existed.  As the Information Commissioner found that the authority contained in the OPM constituted a sufficient authority for the statements made to the media concerning the applicant, the Information Commissioner affirmed the respondent's decision that it held no further documents which fell within the terms of the applicant's FOI access application.