On 29 February Lady Elish Angiolini published the first report from her inquiry into how off-duty Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard.
Information Commissioner John Edwards contributed to the inquiry, and his evidence is cited at 4.320 (the paragraph is quoted below). It deals with the profoundly important (and perennially misunderstood) issue of data-sharing within and between police forces.
Although for obvious reasons the identity and content of some witness evidence to the inquiry is being kept anonymous, there should be no obvious reason that Mr Edwards’s is, and I hope that the Information Commissioner’s Office will, in addition to publishing his press statement, also publish any written evidence he submitted. It would also be good to know the details of the work Mr Edwards says his office is doing, and continuing, with the police, in this context.
In discussions with senior leaders of relevant organisations, the Inquiry was told that gaps in information-sharing between human resources, recruitment, professional
standards and vetting teams – and, indeed, between forces themselves – were a
significant barrier to capturing a clear picture of officers. The Inquiry heard from different sources, including senior leaders, that there are significant barriers to
information-sharing. Some cite data privacy and protection laws as a reason not to
share information. However, in a discussion with the Information Commissioner, John Edwards, the Inquiry was assured that data protection law recognises that there are legitimate reasons for information-sharing, particularly given the powers attributed to police officers. Indeed, Mr Edwards suggested that data protection law is widely misunderstood and misconstrued, and highlighted a failure of training in this regard.
The views in this post (and indeed most posts on this blog) are my personal ones, and do not represent the views of any organisation I am involved with.
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