THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON OUR OUT_LAW WEB_SITE SOON
C
ACPO Code of Practice does not support Humberside's view of data
protection
Given the controversy surrounding the application of the Data Protection
Act to the processing procedures adopted by Humberside Police, Out-law
has dug into its extensive data protection archive to retrieve the "Code
of Practice for Data Protection", as published by the Association of
Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in 1995. This Code was current during the
period when details concerning murderer Ian Huntley were recorded on
Humberside's police computers in connection with a series of allegations
of rape and other sexual offences against young girls. Humberside Police
claim that it had deleted personal data in accordance with the ACPO
Code.
The relevant part of the Code concerns "Retention of acquittals or
discontinued cases without caution" and states (at paragraph 12) that
except in three circumstances "details of acquittals, or of cases
discontinued without caution may not be retained beyond forty-two days
after the date of notification (this period is allowed to enable the
destruction of fingerprints to be synchronised with the deletion of data
on the computer record" (See note 2).
Two of the exceptions mentioned in the last paragraph deal with sex
offences, and of these two, the most relevant states:
"In cases where a sexual offence is alleged, but the subject is
acquitted, or the case is discontinued because of lack of corroboration
or allegation of consent by the victim, the details may be retained for
a period of five years upon the authorisation of an officer not below
the rank of superintendent and will be reviewed again at the end of the
retention period" (paragraph 13.3).
In connection with criminal intelligence matters, the Code states that
"It is not possible to lay down strict criteria for the removal
of data from criminal intelligence records. The need to retain or remove
such information can only be judged from the nature of the information,
the person to whom it relates and the circumstances prevailing at the
time in question. The burden of deciding whether to remove or retain
personal data will undoubtedly be assisted by knowledge of (a) the
reliability of the source and (b) the weight to be attached to the
information itself" (paragraph 2.6.4).
Dr. Chris Pounder, member of Masons Information Law team, said "there is
nothing in the ACPO Code to support the claim that the police were
required to delete criminal intelligence about Huntley".
ENDS
Notes:
1. The Code relates to the processing of personal data by the police
under the Data Protection Act 1984, as the 1998 Act was not commenced
until October 2001.
2. The law now states that such fingerprints and DNA samples can be
retained.
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