AFP officer abused data access to stalk ex

A former officer of the Australian Federal Police's counter-terrorism unit has entered guilty pleas to two charges of stalking using restricted databases.

The officer, Roman Eiginson, stood trial for stalking an ex who had left him when he married a Russian woman. As the Canberra Times reports, 53-year-old Eiginson is a former Soviet soldier who came to Australia in the early 1990s and joined the AFP in 2001.

Eiginson used the AFP's PROMIS (Police Realtime Online Management System) database to get the addresses of the ex-girlfriend and her new partner.

Due to face six charges in the ACT Magistrates Court yesterday, Eiginson entered his guilty plea to two charges and the prosecution offered no evidence on the others, the Canberra Times reports.

The AFP is one of the most prominent supporters of mass data retention in Australia, but this isn't the first time in recent years it's had trouble policing its own officers' handling of data.

In 2014, an officer in NSW was charged with a range of offences including two counts of divulging proscribed information, and four counts of unauthorised access to data.

The Eiginson case next returns to court in August 2015. ®