12 July, 2011
Ontrack Data Recovery

A new report has revealed that 904 police officers and civilian employees were disciplined for data management failures in the three years to June 2011. Figures released by 36 forces under freedom of information requests by Big Brother Watch revealed the number of Data Protection Act breaches in England and Wales.

Furthermore, nearly 100 officers and other staff were either sacked or left the force because of their errors with data compliance.

Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “Our investigation shows that not only have police employees been found to have run background records checks on friends and possible partners, but some have been convicted for passing sensitive information to criminal gangs and drug dealers.”

He added that not only are these practices intrusive but they are “downright dangerous”.

Mr Hamilton told police forces that they need to adopt a zero tolerance approach to data management breaches and those found guilty need to be sacked on the spot.

Recently, the Information Commissioner’s Office told the health service that it need to improve its approach and practices towards looking after the security of data.

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Posted by Polly Button