A number of Tasmania Police information reports relating to the wellbeing of children have been reviewed after an email technical issue affected information sharing with Children and Youth Services (CYS).

“When police attend a matter relating to children, the report which details the response, inquiries or investigation, is automatically emailed to CYS for information,” said Assistant Commissioner, Donna Adams.

“Unfortunately a technical issue was identified last week which had resulted in a number of the automatic emails not being sent.

“Analysis of the 23,000 information reports sent to CYS via automated email since 2010 found 169 emails were not sent,” said Ms Adams.

“After a review, it was found the majority of the reports (138) were dealt with through other reporting systems and collaborative Safe at Home arrangements.

“The remaining 31 reports were examined further to determine whether the information about the police response may have initiated follow up by CYS,” said Ms Adams.

“We have worked with CYS since the issue was identified last week and together we reviewed each of the 31 matters as a priority. All but two did not require further attention,” she said.

Two matters were followed up as a result of the review:
– March 2014 Police concern about a teenager’s associations. In 2014, police monitored this matter with two additional visits and no issues were raised requiring advice to CYS. A follow up visit this week did not identify issues relating to this report.
– December 2015 Police concern about living conditions. A home visit by police this week provided further advice to CYS.

“The welfare of children is a priority for us and I can assure the community that the police response to each matter was appropriate.

“I do not intend to provide further details of those matters for privacy reasons.

“The email issue was identified by the Department of Police and Emergency Management’s Information Technology area last week.

“We acted immediately to analyse those 23,000 emails and to implement a new process to ensure we are alerted to an unsent email,” said Ms Adams.

Tasmania Police notifies CYS through a range of reporting mechanisms, including direct phone calls in serious cases and weekly meetings monitoring all reports relating to the welfare of children with CYS and other key stakeholders under the Safe at Home initiative.