Advice RE possible police complaint
Discussion
Hi - Further to my last post regarding an accident in the ice at the weekend, I was rather suprised when a colleague in work called me asking how me / the car were - I hadn't told anybody at work about the accident.
On further investigation it turned out that my colleagues mum is a traffic cop and were sidcussing the details openly over dinner - is this allowed?!
It's just rather annoying that now I'm being pestered all the time about hte accident that I'd rather do without and I'm not at all happy about the police discussing the matter openly like this!
On further investigation it turned out that my colleagues mum is a traffic cop and were sidcussing the details openly over dinner - is this allowed?!
It's just rather annoying that now I'm being pestered all the time about hte accident that I'd rather do without and I'm not at all happy about the police discussing the matter openly like this!
soulpatch said: I am not qualified to answer this, but I did think that the data protection act would apply quite severely here!
Nope. Data protection only covers Data not converstion etc.
Its a tad unprofessional but I'm not sure that the police have to swear to keep quiet like a doctor does?
I can see your point and it is unprofessional but this sort of informal stuff could be made to work in your favour. I assume you are good terms with your colleague - maybe you can use that to head of the '....lets see if we can do him for careless driving, ......In our book theres no such thing as an accident...." mentality
On further investigation it turned out that my colleagues mum is a traffic cop and were sidcussing the details openly over dinner - is this allowed?!
No it bloody well isn't. Last year the Audit Commission produced a report which severely criticised:
a) The lack of security applied to most Police information systems.
b) The very poor audit trails used in those systems
c) The use of systems for unauthorised/inappropriate information retrieval by Officers.
In one case investigated by the commission, the arrest of a well known "baddie" was followed by 67 instances of unauthorised access to his Police records in just the first 24 hours following the arrest; sheer curiosity was the main culprit.
It's fair to say the report was pretty damning of these practices, and recommmended urgent changes to both systems and working practices/disciplinary procedures. The report is available for download from the Home Office website I believe.
I guess therefore that you have genuine grounds for complaint against the officer if you really do feel that bad about it. Personally I would attempt to talk to her 1-1 and put her in the picture about how unacceptable you found her behaviour though, rather than drag it through formal procedure.
John
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