ICO takes enforcement action against Chief Constables after personal data breach

Collaborative police units urged to get data protection training

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has urged policing staff that work in specialist collaboration units to receive data protection training, while it warned the units themselves to be adequately secured.

The ICO has tried to increase awareness in the area after its investigation of a breach at the East Midlands Collaboration Unit. It found that a number of unencrypted laptops containing sensitive personal data were stolen from an office in August 2010. The laptops had sensitive personal data relating to about 4,500 offenders from across three forces.

As a result, the ICO has taken enforcement action against the Chief Constables of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Police.

In a blog post, Meagan Mirza, group manager of the public security group at the ICO, said that there was no formal basis for sharing of personal data at the unit, and no recognition that the forces remained responsible for the data they were processing.

"In many cases it wasn't clear why the information was needed in the first place and this was compounded by the fact that there was no clear identified purpose for the unit. While many of these issues have now been addressed, the lack of planning around the set-up of the unit is concerning," she said.

The forces were served with an enforcement notice committing them to ensure that no personal data is shared with any other data controller as part of a collaborative project with some exceptions, such as: if laptops or other mobile devices used by officers working on collaboration projects are encrypted to protect any personal data processed on those devices; and if all officers have received training on the security requirements of the Data Protection Act.

The ICO has raised its concerns to the Association of Police Officers (ACPO), and it expects that the ACPO will review and update guidance to police forces on collaborative working.