You know, everyone is making this unduly complex and legalistic.
Fact: A crime was committed
Fact: The perpetrator has been identified.
What seems to be happening is that a police force is blaming its failure to
act (I seem to recall they never even took a witness statement?) on
legislation that is a side issue.
This is not lynch law. This is a person who has identified a perpetrator
and a police force with more excuses than manpower.
I am reminded of a flasher in the woods in Bracknell who flashed my wife
rather aggressively. She reported him to the police who never bothered to
come and take a statement from her.
This endless navel gazing about whether it was legal for the poor shopkeeper
to use his records to identify the jerk in his shop is the same navel gazing
that allowed Political Correctness to become reality instead of a TV Satire
Show sketch where it originated.
What should happen next is simple. The police should accept the material
from the shopkeeper, make a determination about what different or additional
evidence they need to bring their investigation to a conclusion, and
determine with the DPP whether to prosecute. Rocket science this is not.
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Turner,Tim (Corporate
Resources)
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 1:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] FW: [data-protection] DPA to blame agai n
I don't think anyone comes out of this well. I think the victim of the crime
has reacted in a way which makes investigating that crime more difficult.
And yet as the victim of a burglary in November which will almost certainly
never be solved, I think the police have acted unwisely in that they could
use the photographs (which represent a strong tipoff) even if they think the
rest of the evidence is tainted. Their own inquiries using the pictures
could turn up the same data without the data protection problems. A society
where citizens go round attempting to sort out their own justice easily
turns into anarchy. A society where the police don't investigate crimes
quickly or efficiently faces the same risk.
Tim Turner
Data and Information Security Officer
Derbyshire County Council
Tel: 01629 580000 ext 7373
> -----Original Message-----
> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Antoinette Carter
> Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 1:06 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [data-protection] FW: [data-protection] DPA to blame
agai n
>
> I feel nothing but sympathy for the position of the police here. Love
> or loathe them, the Police have an extraordinarily difficult job to
> do, and I think they need all the help and support of the community to
> do that job properly. The Police quite rightly pointed out that there
> was no way they can prosecute a case based on the "evidence" collected
> by the shop-keeper for a crime that has neither been officially
> reported or until the evidence has been verified. Or do we send
> people to prison on anybody's say-so these days? Just because the
> victim believes he has tracked down the correct man who attacked him,
> doesn't mean that he actually has. And how can the Police be expected
> to investigate a crime until they have a statement of facts from the
> victim? They can't just put that sort of evidence before the Crown
> Prosecution Service; they need to prove their case. These are facts
> of life. This is not a cheap ITV drama, this is real life; and in
> real life, amateur sleuths actually don't know what the blazes they
> are doing, and don't know what damage they might do to an otherwise
> clear-cut case by interfering with the proper process of law. Well,
that's my rant over for the day!! I feel much better now.....
>
>
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