NSW police questionnaire

[Idratherbeatsea]

Received email today from the New South Wales Police requesting info on our Feb/March sailing of the Ruby Princess. Everything from cabin number, dinner table number, who was at our table. Also wanted passport and drivers license number. Questions were about Covid-19 and Princess’s actions.

Anyone else? They were interested in timeframe of Feb24-March 19

[dog]

I would not email that personal info to anyone. Be safe

[Lucky TGO]

51 minutes ago, dog said:

I would not email that personal info to anyone. Be safe

I totally agree with you. Don’t give that information out. 
Tony

[MJSailors]

  Are you certain that is a legitimate e mail from theNSW police ?

I do hope that you did not give personal information in a reply to that e mail.

[DiamondFour]

You are under no obligation to do it and you can simply ignore it. If you check in on the Australia and New Zealand section you will see there is a growing consensus that this is a stitch up job to press criminal charges against Princess and some senior officers and executives. The NSW police commissioner has expressed some extreme bias in the news and the investigation is totally one sided.'

 

At the moment there is a special commission going on in NSW that is not part of the police investigation: https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/hearings/

 

If it were me personally I would just delete the email and not give them any information or any of your personal details.

 

Things are bad here in Australia where even our Prime Minister has criticised the above commission for hard line questioning against a state health official that reduced her to tears. This is a government stuff up in Australia and they are trying their best to stitch up Princess and cover up the truth.

 

As I said if it was me I would simply delete the email and contact Princess directly advising them of the situation.

[leck57]

19 minutes ago, DiamondFour said:

You are under no obligation to do it and you can simply ignore it. If you check in on the Australia and New Zealand section you will see there is a growing consensus that this is a stitch up job to press criminal charges against Princess and some senior officers and executives. The NSW police commissioner has expressed some extreme bias in the news and the investigation is totally one sided.'

 

At the moment there is a special commission going on in NSW that is not part of the police investigation: https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/hearings/

 

If it were me personally I would just delete the email and not give them any information or any of your personal details.

 

Things are bad here in Australia where even our Prime Minister has criticised the above commission for hard line questioning against a state health official that reduced her to tears. This is a government stuff up in Australia and they are trying their best to stitch up Princess and cover up the truth.

 

As I said if it was me I would simply delete the email and contact Princess directly advising them of the situation.

 

I haven't followed the inquiry extremely closely but I did see reports along the lines that the Doctor on board Ruby did not provide full details, and made comments along the lines of not enough hours in the day. Based on the late embarkation of the cruise before and the late start to this cruise, I'd suggest Princess have plenty to answer. Based on what I have seen both NSW Health and Princess have a fair bit of liability.

However I think people need to realise that this was a one off situation and without any precedent how would you really know what to do. I know the NSW Health people have guidelines but guidelines are one thing and another when having to be applied to a situation not one of those staff would ever have been close to in their careers.

[dog]

3 hours ago, Idratherbeatsea said:

Received email today from the New South Wales Police requesting info on our Feb/March sailing of the Ruby Princess. Everything from cabin number, dinner table number, who was at our table. Also wanted passport and drivers license number. Questions were about Covid-19 and Princess’s actions.

Anyone else? They were interested in timeframe of Feb24-March 19

 

 

Not saying this is, but Too many scams, that I would never give out info by email, post or phone calls with personal information. A phone call by you to Police Dept could give you some advice; not an incoming call from someone saying they are police etc.

 

Be safe.

[DiamondFour]

4 minutes ago, ChC said:

You, as a passenger on the said cruise, needs to cooperate by providing necessary statement and information.

No one has to cooperate with them at all if they do not fall within their jurisdiction and even then it is debatable. If it was me and I was in Canada like the person who received the email from an Australian police force I would simply ignore it. Even then I would be extremely hesitant as that cruise involves passengers travelling from virus hot spots who could have unknowingly brought the virus with them.

 

Given the extreme bias displayed by the NSW police commissioner in the news and the interference by a Prime Minister in an independent commission of inquiry makes this whole thing look suspicious.

 

Unless ordered to by a court or some sort of legal disclaimer that it is compulsory then I would be ignoring it if it were me personally. If it was a requirement that I give information I would only give it via a legal practitioner to avoid incrimination and possible repercussions if the line of questioning is beyond the knowledge of passengers.

 

Given that Canada and USA and Britain and Europe are well out of the jurisdiction of the NSW police any citizen thereof would be perfectly entitled to ignore such a request be email unless it came through an official government channel.

 

If the NSW police really were doing a proper and professional investigation then they would have the common decency to utilise the law enforcement and consular services to get the information professionally through the correct channels.

 

It looks rather dodgy to me. If I were in Canada I would assume that if an investigation were going on that the documents would be passed onto Canadian police to ask for my input of which they would facilitate the request. The fact that it came by email looks very suspicious. 

[dog]

I, personally, would not post the email---shows your email address, possibly name, etc.

 

details of who sat at your table is also Personal re: tablemates names.

If ligimate that can be given by the cruiseline.

 

Be safe.

 

adding, I am in Canada too----forward to Canadian government.

Edited May 7, 2020 by dog

[Aus Traveller]

I am inclined to think the email is genuine. If I was the OP, I would supply details like my cabin number, my dining table number and (if you know it) the names of your table companions, although that could be difficult. You could answer other questions about the cruise, but if I was in your position, I would not supply my passport number and my driver's licence number. You could point out the risk of identity theft by supplying those particulars.

 

I don't know why the police are interested in the 24th February to 8th March cruise. It is concerning that there have been a lot of hints here in Australia about illness on that cruise and even lawyers now trying to get a class action together claiming Princess 'hid' the COVID on that cruise. BS. They will have a problem: there was no COVID on the previous cruise, just flu. If anyone had tested positive, the media would have been screaming it from the rooftops because they have been trying to 'hang' Princess.

 

DiamondFour made the comment about concern at the lack of impartiality of the Police Commissioner. Unfortunately this is a fact. At the start he made the statement that "we believe" it was someone who worked in the kitchen supplying both the passengers and the crew. Someone may have told him there is no such place, so he changed it to "a waiter or someone working in the kitchen". When a reported asked if he had any proof of that, he said it was just "a theory" but kept repeating it for weeks. Maybe no-one has told him that COVID is not spread by food (ingesting).

 

By looking at the statistics of the infections, it is clear it started with a passenger (27.7% of the passengers at the end of the cruise, but only one crew member.) If the COVID had started with a crew member, it would have spread like wildfire through the cramped crew quarters.

 

I am sure if the OP chooses to ignore the email there will be no repercussions, however he might had information that will help put a balanced view on what happened on the 24th February cruise.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Aus Traveller

[WatchHill]

First, i would pick up the phone and call the police department to verify the validity of this email. Possibly ask a few questions of someone in authority before responding to the questions. 

 

Darcy

 

Hey,Tony AKA Lucky TGO - How are things in your neighborhood? Hear your city is experiencing very high numbers. We're OK here in the southwestern suburbs. The Kraft family is doing a lot for everyone in this area.

 

D

Edited May 7, 2020 by WatchHill

[Cuedon]

There's a few other soft tests to see if it's likely to be genuine or not:

Did other people on the same voyage get the same email? (Preferably people who don't have large social media presences.)

If there are any names, phone numbers, links, etc. do they appear to head towards the correct places (and don't just use a visual inspection-- manually retype the addresses to avoid any lookalike characters.)

How's the language in the email? Typos? AmE or BrE? (NSW should be closer to BrE.)

Is the info they're asking for accurate? (Right ship, right dates?)

 

My hunch says that it's probably legitimate, but my very-not-a-lawyer opinion would be to decline giving out any personally identifiable information on the grounds of security and privacy concerns until they can prove their identity. (Some kind of equivalent of "Can I see your badge?")

[voljeep]

the bias -  both sides - in this thread is exactly what I thought it would be … us vrs them

[Potstech]

I would take the practical way out - Press the "Delete" button and go about my business. If they want this information that bad they can come get it in person.

 

That is my non lawyer advice for others.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Potstech

[voljeep]

or make NSW request it in discovery  directly from Princess - let the lawyers do their job

[dog]

6 hours ago, Idratherbeatsea said:

Received email today from the New South Wales Police requesting info on our Feb/March sailing of the Ruby Princess. Everything from cabin number, dinner table number, who was at our table. Also wanted passport and drivers license number. Questions were about Covid-19 and Princess’s actions.

Anyone else? They were interested in timeframe of Feb24-March 19

they want passport, driver’s license. Etc. Sounds suspicious. Protect yourself. 

[Daniel A]

E-mail is notoriously not a secure form of communication.  It is not encrypted and almost any middle school student has the ability to hack and read e-mails.  (Even Princess' corporate e-mail system got hacked recently.)  Never share any personal information in response to an unsolicited e-mail.  Even if this e-mail does actually come from NSW Police, it is certainly an amateurish attempt at soliciting investigative information.

 

If they need you that badly - don't worry, they'll know how to properly reach out to you.

 

P.S. There's no reason they can't get the requested information directly from Princess via a warrant, unless they lack the necessary cause to get a warrant in the first place.

 

My advice, hit the 'delete' key.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

E-mail is notoriously not a secure form of communication.  It is not encrypted and almost any middle school student has the ability to hack and read e-mails.  (Even Princess' corporate e-mail system got hacked recently.)  Never share any personal information in response to an unsolicited e-mail.  Even if this e-mail does actually come from NSW Police, it is certainly an amateurish attempt at soliciting investigative information.

 

If they need you that badly - don't worry, they'll know how to properly reach out to you.

 

P.S. There's no reason they can't get the requested information directly from Princess via a warrant, unless they lack the necessary cause to get a warrant in the first place.

 

My advice, hit the 'delete' key.

 This ^^^^^!   Great advice!  I would never see the need for the NSW police to summon your personal information.  As others have said, I would just hit the delete key until they send the proper request for this information.  I would never just pony that up ... too risky IMO!  

[famski740]

The first part of the request: "cabin number, dinner table number, who was at our table", is all available to the investigators through Princes.  As Princes is the entity being investigated I would let them deal with these questions.

 

The second part of the request: "passport and drivers license number" are personal information and as such should never be given out over the phone, in an email, or to anyone asking; who you cannot immediately identify as a "need to know" entity.

 

Just me opinion but I do not like the email.

[t&atravel]

Just so the OP doesn’t think he’s alone, I also got the email questionnaire.  We were on the feb24-mar8 sailing.  I haven’t responded and if I do, I was not going to fill in those personal details.  

[nini]

So, my main question is how did they get your information and

e-mail? I realize there are the manifests... does that also include

e-mails? If it were us, we would prefer an official subpoena type

document which of course would be costly for the questioning body.

[t&atravel]

I would assume they got my email from Princess. I’ve attached the email (if I did it right).  The questionnaire link is embedded in the email. I did not attach that.

[gmjc2]

My advice--DO NOT send any personal info. They will already have it. I would not give any names of fellow dining mates either. Just say you do not have that information. Answer truthfully but reservedly. I would not suggest you ignore the e.mail though. A phone call to the police department would be a good idea but do not use the number they give you. If it is a scam that will be bogus.  

Try the Australian Embassy in your own capital. They should help you figure this all out.

 

Good Luck!!!

[Tedferg]

No matter how genuine this looks, why on earth would they need passport and drivers license ? Princess must have your passport number, cabin number, table number - if NSW can get your email from Princess why not these other details.

 

As far as 'legally bound to respond' a. Jurisdiction b. How would they prove you received the email. c. think 'how could this go wrong' versus 'why not respond'

 

Assuming it is legitimate, hackers totally unrelated to this inquiry could get personal dat from your email response. If in doubt do nothing.

[ace2542]

7 hours ago, DiamondFour said:

You are under no obligation to do it and you can simply ignore it. If you check in on the Australia and New Zealand section you will see there is a growing consensus that this is a stitch up job to press criminal charges against Princess and some senior officers and executives. The NSW police commissioner has expressed some extreme bias in the news and the investigation is totally one sided.'

 

At the moment there is a special commission going on in NSW that is not part of the police investigation: https://www.rubyprincessinquiry.nsw.gov.au/hearings/

 

If it were me personally I would just delete the email and not give them any information or any of your personal details.

 

Things are bad here in Australia where even our Prime Minister has criticised the above commission for hard line questioning against a state health official that reduced her to tears. This is a government stuff up in Australia and they are trying their best to stitch up Princess and cover up the truth.

 

As I said if it was me I would simply delete the email and contact Princess directly advising them of the situation.

Question: If it is genuine and he refuses to co-operate could he be banned from entering Australia in the future? And would that in turn create trouble entering the USA/Other countries? If the answer to that question is yes. Then send it back because loyalty to a cruise line is not worth that.