Police trawling data classed as Unjustified

The Information Commissioner has ruled that Police are in potential breach of data protection laws, by extracting "excessive" amounts of personal data from crime victims' mobile phones with little or no justification. 

 

In a major report, Elizabeth Denham warned that the Police could deter people from reporting crimes and risk undermining public confidence in the criminal justice system, by the unnecessary extraction of reams of personal data from victims' mobile phones.

 

Ms Denham says the consent forms used to get access to people's phones fail to adequately explain the legal basis for the police's digital intrusion into their private lives, and has ordered police chiefs to withdraw and rewrite the forms.

 

She also called for an end to "inconsistent approaches and standards of compliance by forces" by introducing a statutory code of practice for extracting data.

 

Her investigation follows plans by the National Police Chiefs' Council and Crown Prosecution Service last year aimed at stopping sexual offence cases collapsing because crucial evidence emerged at the last minute.

 

This caused controversy when rape victims were asked to consent to handing over their phones, or risk their attacker walking free. She added: "People may feel less inclined to assist the police if they are concerned that their and their friends' and families' private lives will be open to police scrutiny without proper safeguards." 

 

Consent needs to be "freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous", with victims able to withdraw it at any time.

 

Ms Denham therefore proposed an alternative legal basis for obtaining a phone's data, which would require the police apply the test of whether it was "strictly necessary" for the investigation.

 

The Johnson Partnership

Nottingham Solicitors