NSW police allegedly pirated software that let them access their central database. Picture: Thinkstock. Source: Supplied
NSW Police are being sued for $10 million for allegedly pirating up to 16,000 copies of software.
The ABC reports officers have been using software it licensed from UK company Micro Focus to access their COPS database.
The database - described as the "nervous system" of NSW Police - contains highly confidential details of almost every person in the state with a criminal history.
Micro Focus claims NSW Police bought 6500 licences off them for COPS access software known as ViewNow.
In an audit two years ago, Micro Focus's Australasian managing director Bruce Craig learnt the NSW Ombudsman's office was also accessing COPS with its ViewNow software.
After further investigation, Mr Craig alleges a police employee told them the force had "rolled out 16,500 devices".
It had also provided duplicates to other law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Corrective Services and the Police Integrity Commission.
These other agencies settled with Micro Focus when the case went to court in July last year, but NSW Police are refusing to back down.
NSW police told the ABC they deny the allegations – and disputed the figure of $10 million in damages.
Mr Craig told ABC police actively stalled an investigation while they delete the pirated copies and refusing to comply with an audit request.
Incredibly, Micro Focus says while NSW Police were deleting the pirate copies, they were replacing it with more pirate copies of another piece of Micro Focus software.
For that, Micro Focus also plans to prosecute NSW Police in a separate trial.
The trial continues.
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