TheInformation Commissioner's Office(ICO) has received complaints against four police
authorities who refuse to comply with the principles of
theData Protection Act.
Humberside, Northumbria, Staffordshire and West Midlands police
have all appealed against ICO orders to delete old criminal
convictions from the Police National Computer (PNC), despite this
being a principle enshrined in the Data Protection Act.
By appealing against the rulings, individuals claim the police
are defying the law they are meant to uphold.
This is an important principle that must be upheld, says Liberal
Democrat shadow home secretary, Nick Clegg. "The government [has]
the biggest databases in the world without any meaningful public
debate," he said. He hailed the information commissioner as "a lone
voice seeking to protect British liberties".
Mick Gorrill, assistant commissioner for the ICO and a former
police detective superintendent, said that each case had its own
merit, but appeals would only be important in circumstances where
the public interest was obviously under threat.
West Midlands Police is fighting to preserve a record of an
attempted theft, which happened more than 25 years ago.
Staffordshire Police has invested legal resources to preserve the
record of a child cautioned for a minor assault. Police have said
the record will not be removed until the child reaches her 100th
birthday.
"There is no justification in terms of policing purposes for
retaining the information," said Gorrill.