Data protection commissioner Emma Martins is looking into whether the Data Protection Law, which prevents disclosure of sensitive personal information, was broken by the police in the compilation and retention of the files.
‘We will be carrying out a full investigation,’ said Mrs Martins. ‘The police have very robust processes in place so we will be interested to look at how they were by-passed. But I would like to add that I do have confidence that acting police chief David Warcup will carry this investigation through with absolute integrity.’
States Members were shocked this week to learn that police held secret files on them between February 2006 and November 2008. Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand announced the existence of the files in the States on Tuesday.
