100 police workers in breach of data protection

Feb 20 2011 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A POLICE officer is suspected of using a force computer to pass classified information onto criminals, the Sunday Sun can reveal.

The community support officer – who was sacked – is one of no less than 100 North officers and civilian staff to breach data protection laws for their own use over the last two years.

Searching for private information about specific individuals, checking car records and giving information to a member of the public are just three other examples of police trawling through computers for their own ends.

We have discovered six officers from the region’s forces have been booted out of their jobs for breaking the rules, while 10 others quit.

Two were cautioned for their actions and three from Cumbria – two of whom are police officers – have landed themselves in court.

Several disciplinary hearings are still ongoing, and others were given written warnings, words of advice from top brass bosses or guidance.

The statistics were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and showed the majority of breaches involved staff or officers searching their force’s system or the Police National Computer (PNC), the UK’s national police computer system.

The latter holds extensive details of people, vehicles, crimes and property on its databases.

Northumbria Police totted up the largest number of breaches with 33. Nineteen took place in 2009 and 14 last year.

Two members of staff have been sacked as a result, although it’s not known if they were officers or civilian employees.

In Cumbria, there were eight breaches in 2009 – seven by officers and one by a Community Support Officer – and five breaches in 2010.

One officer wound up in court after passing on police information to a member of the public, and resigned after getting a suspended sentence. Another staff member was fined at court and resigned after accessing police information for personal reasons.

Durham recorded 26 breaches over that time, with 24 being made last year alone, and Cleveland had the lowest number of breaches with nine.

North Yorkshire was the only force to disclose full details of breaches, revealing how a PCSO had been accused in February 2009 of misuse of the force’s police computer systems and how there were suspicions the officer was passing information on to local criminals.

That same month an officer was given a final written warning for checking the PNC while he was in the process of buying a car, to see if there were any outstanding reports on it.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “North Yorkshire Police (NYP) are committed to ensuring that staff and officers undertake their legitimate duties in a manner that is compatible with the data protection principles.

“NYP recognises the sensitivity of processed personal information and its obligation in respect of data held by the force.”

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