New Met police video

[Fedster + 1,307]

The highly sensitive data is still missing.

A rape investigation has been put at risk of collapse after video interviews with the alleged victim vanished from an officer’s desk.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) head of enforcement Steve Eckersley has warned police forces to keep a tighter lid on data protection after vital evidence was lost by Humberside Police in a series of failures.

The force has been ordered to pay £130,000 by May 2 and sign a commitment to improve its data protection practices.

On June 13, 2015 Humberside Police carried out an interview with an alleged rape victim on behalf of Cleveland Police at a sexual assault referral centre in Hull.

Video footage was recorded on unencrypted three discs, including a master version and two copies, alongside written notes which were passed to the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit with the intention of posting them to Cleveland Police.

Information about how the alleged victim and offender met, travel arrangements, details of the alleged rape and the scene of the incident, the victim’s mental health conditions, medication, the address of a friend who helped the victim in the aftermath, the victim’s address plus the name and date of birth of both the alleged perpetrator and victim were contained in the bundle.

The files and notes were placed in the same envelope on an offender’s desk.

It is not known whether the envelope was actually sent to Cleveland Police and Humberside Police did not starting looking for the missing data until August 2016 when Cleveland Police asked after the disks as there was no record of them ever being received.

Humberside did not inform the victim until November 23, 2016.

“If this information has been misused by those who have access to it or it was in fact disclosed to untrustworthy third parties then the contravention would cause further distress and also substantial damage to the data subjects, for example, by way of reprisal attacks,” the ICO penalty notice states.

“The victim was aware that the information has been lost and has indicated that they are not keen to engage with the police, and is reluctant and unhappy at the prospect of participating in a further interview.

“The commissioner considers it reasonable to assume in the circumstances that the victim would be further distressed by the prospect that the loss of the information could jeopardise any future prosecution.

“The alleged perpetrator’s right to a fair hearing could also be affected by the loss of data causing substantial distress to them as a data subject.”

Cleveland Police confirmed a 51-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the allegations but released under investigation. 

Steve Eckersley, ICO Head of Enforcement, said: “We see far too many cases where police forces fail to look after discs containing the highly sensitive personal information contained within victim or witness interviews.

“Anyone working in a police force has a duty to stop and think whenever they handle personal details – making sure they are using the most appropriate method for transferring information and considering the consequences of it being lost before going ahead. Staff training in this area is vital.”

He added: “Police forces deal with such sensitive information that when things go wrong, it’s likely to be serious. This case shows how crucial it is to keep a clear record of what’s been sent, when and who to.”

Humberside Police failed to encrypt the discs, intended to send them by unsecure mail, failed to maintain an audit trail of the package and to adhere to its own Information Security Police, the ICO investigation found.

The ICO received more than 18,000 data protection complaints from members of the public last year, One in twenty concerned policing and criminal records. A similar proportion of self-reported data breaches concern the police sector.

A spokeswoman for the ICO said breaches are sometimes related to the personal details of witnesses or victims going missing but it sees incidents involving police staff information too.

Breaches are sometimes related to the personal details of witnesses or victims going missing. But we also see incidents relating to police staff information – HR data needs care too.

Other significant fines handed out to police forces include a £160,000 penalty to South Wales Police in 2015 after the force lost film interview DVDs with a victim who had been sexually abused with as a child including graphic and disturbing content- left unencrypted in a desk drawer.

In 2017 Greater Manchester Police were ordered to pay £150,000 after losing three DVDs of unencrypted video showing named victims talking openly about violent or sexual crimes.

The DVDs were sent to the Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS) of the National Crime Agency by recorded delivery but they were never received.

They were never found.

West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale lost top-secret counter terrorism documents after they were stolen from his car. ACC Beale pleaded guilty to o breaching the Official Secrets Act and was fined £5,000 last year.

He is currently appealing the outcome of his misconduct hearing.  

Humberside Deputy Chief Constable Chris Rowley said: “We share the view of the ICO that this was a serious incident and deeply regret the distress caused to the alleged victim.

“We made a voluntary referral to the Information Commissioner as soon as we realised a breach of the data protection act had taken place, as well as informing the alleged victim that the package may not have been sent to Cleveland Police.

“We have fully co-operated with the Information Commissioner’s Office throughout and have also acted upon the findings to ensure our data protection practices have been improved since the incident in 2015.”

He told Police Oracle an officer is calling the victim this afternoon to reiterate the force's apology. 

The maximum fine ICO can impose is £500,000.

The penalty must be paid by May 2 and can be paid at a reduced rate of £104,000 if they pay in full before May 1.  

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[Pavillion 43]

12 hours ago, Fedster said:

 

West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale lost top-secret counter terrorism documents after they were stolen from his car. ACC Beale pleaded guilty to o breaching the Official Secrets Act and was fined £5,000 last year.

He is currently appealing the outcome of his misconduct hearing.  

It appears being allowed to retiring with full pension is not good enough.

[Zulu 22 + 4,638]

That quote has already been dealt with in another topic on this forum, which is still ongoing. Do we need sarcastic quips?

[BlueBob + 701]

Brilliant that even fines by ICO can be reduced by paying fine early!!!   The key from this is for all forces/officers to revise his data is managed. 

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

It’s always funny (sic) how the lowest common denominator gets blamed. It’s a failure of policy that unencrypted discs are ever burnt in the first place, let alone allowed to be put into someone’s desk for safe keeping.

[Radman + 2,165]

11 hours ago, ParochialYokal said:

It’s always funny (sic) how the lowest common denominator gets blamed. It’s a failure of policy that unencrypted discs are ever burnt in the first place, let alone allowed to be put into someone’s desk for safe keeping.

Whenever I've handled ABE disks involving victims of crime it was hammered into us not to leave them unattended and to ensure they're signed over to whoever they're going to.

Left on a desk unattended is simply shocking - anything could have happened to them to be fair.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Radman

[Ether + 1,432]

3 hours ago, Radman said:

Whenever I've handled ABE disks involving victims of crime it was hammered into us not to leave them unattended and to ensure they're signed over to whoever they're going to.

Left on a desk unattended is simply shocking - anything could have happened to them to be fair.

Is it?  ABE/witness evidence sit on my desk almost every day, you think I lock them away when I go to the toilet?  Its about location, a desk in an office in a police station shouldn't be an issue. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Funkywingnut

[Radman + 2,165]

3 hours ago, Funkywingnut said:

Is it?  ABE/witness evidence sit on my desk almost every day, you think I lock them away when I go to the toilet?  Its about location, a desk in an office in a police station shouldn't be an issue. 

If it's your desk and you've taken responsibility for it that's fine - I'd imagine your like me and you'll have separate files for different on going cases that you'll keep in your docket somewhere.

My point was I wouldn't ever just leave ABE disks on a person's empty desk without first telling them what they are or handing them over directly.

This entire situation boils down to the classic brown envelope job doesn't It? 

"Where's that statement/interview/ABE/CCTV/ID Paper?"

"I left it on your desk in a brown envelope yesterday... Or was it the day before?" 

I was always told to treat ABE disks with extra care. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Radman

[Ether + 1,432]

9 hours ago, Radman said:

If it's your desk and you've taken responsibility for it that's fine - I'd imagine your like me and you'll have separate files for different on going cases that you'll keep in your docket somewhere.

My point was I wouldn't ever just leave ABE disks on a person's empty desk without first telling them what they are or handing them over directly.

This entire situation boils down to the classic brown envelope job doesn't It? 

"Where's that statement/interview/ABE/CCTV/ID Paper?"

"I left it on your desk in a brown envelope yesterday... Or was it the day before?" 

I was always told to treat ABE disks with extra care. 

Yes absolutely, a few forces now have been hit with heavy fines for losing ABE disks, its why they don't get put through the post any more. 

Some encrypt them and send them registered, many wont.  Same goes from device downloads by Digital Forensics Depts.

This is why its important to get sub copies early, because we all misplace things, and they almost always turn up. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Funkywingnut