Skip to content
Now, a new data breach has emerged involving police responses to FoI requests.
The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in Freedom of Information (FoI) responses issued by Norfolk & Suffolk Police, the forces have disclosed.
In a statement, both stated that a “technical issue” meant raw crime report data was included in a “very small percentage” of FoI responses issued between April 2021 & March 2022.
Police Responses
It is the latest data breach involving police responses to FoI requests, coming after the Police Service of Northern Ireland published a document which included the names & other details of around 10,000 officers & staff.
A joint statement commented: “Norfolk & Suffolk Constabularies have identified an issue relating to a v. small percentage of responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for crime statistics, issued between April 2021 & March 2022.
“A technical issue has led to some raw data belonging to the constabularies being included within the files produced in response to the FOI requests in question. The data was hidden from anyone opening the files, but it should not have been included.
Identifiable Information
“The data impacted was information held on a specific police system & related to crime reports.
The data includes personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses, & suspects, as well as descriptions of offences. It related to a range of offences, including domestic incidents, sexual offences, assaults, thefts & hate crime.
“A full & thorough analysis into the data impacted has now been completed, & today we have started the process of contacting those individuals who need to be notified about an impact to their personal data.
“This will be done via letter, phone & in some cases, face to face, depending on what information was impacted & what support is required.
“We expect this process to be complete by the end of Sept. We will be notifying a total of 1,230 people whose data has been breached.”
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating.
Stephen Bonner, Deputy Commissioner at the ICO, explained: “The potential impact of a breach like this reminds us that data protection is about people.
It is too soon to say what our investigation will find, but this breach & all breaches – highlights just how important it is to have robust measures in place to protect personal information, especially when that data is so sensitive.
Investigating
“We are currently investigating this breach & a separate breach reported to us in Nov. 2022.
“In the meantime, we will continue to support organisations to get data protection right so that people can feel confident that their information is secure.
“If you’re concerned about the way your information has been handled, you can get advice on what to do from our website.”
