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Kurt Wyber says that a mugshot of a drunk driving incident about six years ago had been used on the course in the South Island city at least three times.
And he only found out after he went to his local BP for coffee one morning where all the staff laughing at him revealed what had happened.
They had been to one of the training courses the police were running and saw his face among a line of seven other men.
“I thought they were kidding. I said ‘are you kidding me?’ and they said, ‘no, your photo was in the scheduling portion of the course,’ “Wyber said.
Police are silent on the discovery and say it is still under investigation. However, the police apologized in a letter to Wyber.
Meanwhile, a privacy attorney says the use of Wyber’s mugshot for the course is “significant interference with his privacy.”
When he got to work after visiting BP, Wyber called the Cromwell Police Station for answers and then met with the sergeant major who was leading the course.
The couple looked at the course slides together and Wyber was dumbfounded to discover that his photo was being used.
“I was impressed,” Wyber told the Herald. “I’m angry about it more than anything.”
Below his photo was personal information such as Wyber’s full name and date of birth. The image of seven similar-looking men of the same age was also used.
The sergeant major apologized profusely, saying the course had been organized by someone “from the north,” Wyber says.
Wyber took a photo of the lineup on his mobile phone and sent it to his partner before police officers asked him to erase the evidence.
He complained about the incident and an inspector from the Southern District Police wrote to him saying that he had created learning opportunities for the sergeant major.
The inspector mentioned that the sergeant major had already apologized for the situation and they wrote to Wyber to “underline this sentiment.”
“Your complaint has created learning opportunities for the officer involved, and this has been reinforced to my satisfaction.”
Wyber has a history of anxiety and the discovery that his photo was used in an aggravated robbery lineup set him off again.
“I had to go to my doctor and get back on the medication,” he said.
“Driving through my little town every night, I was sitting there thinking, ‘Are people looking at me askance?’ It affected me a lot.
“I’m not looking over my shoulder now, but I have moved to a different city … It has calmed down a little bit.”
Wyber says police officers at the station were horrified that it could happen, but questioned why they didn’t use cartoon characters or people from abroad.
He was hoping to get an explanation from the police on how his photo ended up in the field.
“It was an aggravated armed robbery course. You look at my record and it’s just driving charges. I stopped drinking two years ago,” he said.
“I’m done by DEC [drunk in charge of a vehicle] a few times, all low level, but I’ve never been done for drugs, assault … I’m not that [kind of] person.”
Southern District Commander Superintendent Paul Basham says police are investigating how the photo was used in an outside training session.
“As investigations are ongoing, the police are not in a position to provide further details at this time,” Basham said.
Privacy attorney Kathryn Dalziel says she couldn’t think why police would use Wyber’s photo and not someone made up.
“Or check [with the person] or take a made-up photo if you’re just teaching people what to do with aggravated robbers, “he told the Herald.
“What it means is that people from his community came up and said that we had seen him in a police line as part of our aggravated robbery training.
“It’s actually a bit outrageous that they are using her photo, particularly someone from the community.”
Wyber has considered taking legal action over the use of his photo, but says he does not have the funds to pay for an attorney.
