As a result of the breaches, a number of police officers and council staff in the region were fired or resigned after being caught illegally accessing the public’s personal data, according to a report by EDP24.
Breaches include confidential council documents being left in a skip outside a council building, papers on 25 children in care disappearing, a report with information on a child at risk of harm being delivered to the wrong address, confidential police records being stolen from a Norfolk police officer’s home, and patient information being lost in the mail or left in public places.
Since 2008, there have been 22 breaches involving the Norfolk police. In 2008, a police constable resigned after being convicted of a breach of the DPA for disclosing information from the crime intelligence system and a police community support officer (PCSO) was fired after being convicted of obtaining details of a call to police and passing it on to a family member, the report said.
In 2009, a PCSO was fired for accessing the Police National Computer for personal reasons, and in 2010, another PCSO quit after being caught checking details of family members.
At the Norfolk County Council, there have been 46 breaches since December 2008. In 2009, a member of council staff was dismissed for unauthorized access and alteration of social services records, while members of staff resigned before they could be dismissed in December 2009 and February 2010 for unauthorized access to social work records, according to the report.