Police have powers to enforce laws, and the abuse of such powers may cause serious damage. This is particularly relevant to confidential information treatment.
In October 2017, one such high-profile case was decided in the United Kingdom. Nigel Mungur, 40, a former Lancashire immediate response officer, was jailed for five years for unauthorized use of personal data. The police investigation revealed that over a seven-year period, Nigel Mungur regularly accessed the police database of road traffic accident victims and sent the data to his accomplice, a law firm employee who handled relevant cases. The criminals used personal data of some 20,000 people to make a total of £363,000.
Today, police officers are privileged users of information systems that contain top secret information and personal data of individuals, and some of them abuse this power. Thus, last spring, Australian Federal Police commissioner admitted that the police accessed records of journalist’s calls without any warrant.
However, rank-and-file police officers are not the only ones who breach confidentiality. High officials also leak data. One of the telling cases took place in Mexico, where Ivan Reyes Arzate, a former high-ranking drug enforcement commander, was charged with abusing his position to help drug cartel leaders. Reyes, who was a point of contact for all information about investigations, including from U.S. law enforcement, leaked it to criminals.
One of the issues is the police behaving indiscreetly and inappropriately on social media. Thus, several police officers in Northern Ireland were recently placed under an investigation into suspected repeated disciplinary violations. For example, one of them posted information of bars and restaurants he liked to go to, even though such disclosure might expose police staff to risk of attack by dissident republicans. Another officer was claimed to have been sending intimate photos of himself to women he was contacting on Twitter, some of which appeared to have been taken inside a police station while he was on duty.
As a result of gross breach of their duties, police staff not only cause troubles, but also discredit their colleagues who have a good record and risk their lives to help people every day.
