Question about records kept for stops....

[S1MMA]

Hi, I was thinking the other day about data protection etc.... and wanted to ask the BiB: when someone is stopped in a car (for whatever reason, say they have a light out, or dodgey numberplate, or for a security check) and they're given one of those tickets that says why they were stopped - with identity stuff on it (height/size/ethnicity etc...) do they form part of a record on you? So if you were stopped 3 times in say 3 years, could the officer check how many times you were stopped (and the reason for those stops) in the last 3 years?

As I said, I'm thinking about data protection etc... and how it applies to police records, I work for an Insurance co and we're supposed to get rid of redundant data on clients for data protection etc... but how do the police interpret this?

Cheers.

[JustinP1]

I think the DPA only counts for data kept in a coherent filing system.

I am unsure if the producer stubs would could as this unless that data would then be taken to some kind of 'central' system which would link it all together. I am not sure that that is actually done. I would have thought that the producer would only be kept as long as necessary to make sure you are going to fulfil the other half and bring your docs into the station, after that it would be redundant.

[Chrispy Porker]

It's police intelligence, which has policies for weeding based on relevance, accuracy, how long it has been held etc etc. The management of police information has undergone a big change post-Soham.
It is a complicated subject, enough to fill a book.