Police committing more than ten data breaches each week, says report
Examples include officer giving USB containing sensitive police information to a member of the publicPolice forces are failing to keep personal information safe with more than 2,000 data breaches conducted by officers and staff over a four-and-a-half-year period, a report has found.
A Freedom of Information request sent to all forces by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch found there were 2,315 breaches in police forces between June 1 2011 and December 31 2015, with more than 800 relating to accessing personal information without a policing purpose.
Information was inappropriately shared with third parties more than 800 times.
Specific examples cited in the report include a Met officer finding the name of a victim amusing and attempting to take a photo of his driving licence to send to his friend via snapchat and an officer in Dyfed Powys who passed a USB device, which contained sensitive police information, to a member of the public.
In 55 per cent of cases, no disciplinary or formal disciplinary action was taken, with 13 per cent resulting in either a resignation or dismissal.
Only three per cent of cases resulted in a criminal conviction or caution, something the group urges should change in order to prevent further misuse and abuse.
“Existing penalties for serious data breaches are not enough of a deterrent,” the report states.
“Anyone found guilty of a serious breach should be subject to a potential custodial sentence.”
Currently the most severe penalty for anyone found to be in breach of Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998 is a maximum fine of £500,000.
The document – entitled Safe in Police Hands – also recommends that those who carry out a serious data breach should be given a criminal record and that where a breach concerns a member of the public that person should be informed as soon as possible.
According to the report, the forces with the greatest number of breaches are West Midlands Police with 488, Surrey with 202 and Humberside with 168, although the figures have been challenged.
“We always advise caution when interpreting Freedom of Information statistics. It is clear from this data set that police forces have responded to the information request in different ways so it is not comparing like for like − a point accepted by Big Brother Watch,” said a spokesman for West Midlands Police.
“West Midlands Police has also included other types of breaches in these figures and not, it appears unlike other forces, strictly data protection breaches.
“We are not afraid of letting the public see how we work because as an organisation we welcome openness.”
Ian Redhead, national lead on data protection, said the service takes its responsibility to protect sensitive information “extremely seriously”.
“National guidance is available from the College of Policing and forces should have clear, tested and robust procedures in place designed to meet our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act and make sure information is handled correctly at all times.
“Public trust is key to good policing. Abuse of that trust is unacceptable and, in the rare cases where staff fail to meet our high professional standards, they will be held to account and dealt with appropriately.”
According to the College of Policing’s Disapproved Register, 20 officers across England and Wales – including British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary and States of Jersey Police –were dismissed for “data misuse” in 2014/15, with eight resigning while under investigation for such offences and one retiring.
Big Brother Watch states that the issue is even more pressing considering the plans to allow officers access to Internet Connection Records under the Investigatory Powers Bill, a power which they say should be removed.
“The information the police will have access to under these powers is vast. Police forces are already struggling to keep the personal information they can access secure. It is clear that the addition of yet more data may just lead to the risk of a data breach or of misuse,” it states.
News Archive
- December 2023 (3)
- November 2023 (5)
- October 2023 (4)
- September 2023 (5)
- August 2023 (4)
- July 2023 (3)
- June 2023 (5)
- May 2023 (2)
- April 2023 (5)
- March 2023 (3)
- February 2023 (7)
- January 2023 (11)
- December 2022 (6)
- November 2022 (5)
- October 2022 (5)
- September 2022 (6)
- August 2022 (2)
- July 2022 (11)
- June 2022 (8)
- May 2022 (11)
- April 2022 (8)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (5)
- January 2022 (12)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (9)
- October 2021 (4)
- September 2021 (10)
- August 2021 (9)
- July 2021 (12)
- June 2021 (4)
- May 2021 (11)
- April 2021 (14)
- March 2021 (14)
- February 2021 (19)
- January 2021 (18)
- December 2020 (6)
- November 2020 (12)
- October 2020 (14)
- September 2020 (15)
- August 2020 (16)
- July 2020 (16)
- June 2020 (18)
- May 2020 (22)
- April 2020 (18)
- March 2020 (23)
- February 2020 (20)
- January 2020 (4)
- December 2019 (5)
- November 2019 (6)
- October 2019 (5)
- September 2019 (6)
- August 2019 (8)
- July 2019 (6)
- June 2019 (8)
- May 2019 (8)
- April 2019 (8)
- March 2019 (10)
- February 2019 (9)
- January 2019 (9)
- December 2018 (9)
- November 2018 (12)
- October 2018 (8)
- September 2018 (7)
- August 2018 (11)
- July 2018 (7)
- June 2018 (9)
- May 2018 (9)
- April 2018 (12)
- March 2018 (10)
- February 2018 (8)
- January 2018 (5)
- December 2017 (6)
- November 2017 (4)
- October 2017 (3)
- September 2017 (10)
- August 2017 (5)
- July 2017 (5)
- June 2017 (6)
- May 2017 (6)
- April 2017 (2)
- March 2017 (3)
- February 2017 (4)
- January 2017 (1)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (4)
- October 2016 (1)
- September 2016 (4)
- August 2016 (4)
- July 2016 (1)
- June 2016 (5)
- May 2016 (3)
- April 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (3)
- February 2016 (3)
- January 2016 (3)
- December 2015 (3)
- November 2015 (3)
- October 2015 (3)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (1)
- July 2015 (11)
- June 2015 (1)