The UK’s regulator for data protection has announced the results of an investigation which found a lack of appropriate backup systems, as well as some poor practice in record keeping
The Information Commissioner’s Office has formally reprimanded South Yorkshire Police after the force deleted almost 100,000 pieces of evidence gathered via the body-worn video recorders used by officers.
An investigation by the data-protection watchdog found that, as of early 2023, footage recorded on the wearable cameras was, at the end of each day, uploaded by South Yorkshire Police (SYP) to a central storage hub.
In May 2023, the force made an upgrade – after which the platform “began to struggle processing BWV (body-worn video) data”. SYP initially put in place a “workaround” using a local but, by the summer, found that “file storage was very low – and further investigation found that 96,174 pieces of original footage had been deleted from its system” in July.
The footage included data related to 126 criminal cases – although the ICO said that only three of these were impacted by the loss. One case that did not make it to court might have resulted in a prosecution had the video not been deleted.
Before the videos were deleted, the tens of thousands pieces of footage were copied over to a new storage system, but the investigation concluded that “due to poor record keeping, SYP remain unable to confirm the exact number of files deleted without copies made”.
And, long before the implementation of the new platform in 2023 – as far back as 2019 – the ICO found that “flaws were discovered” but were not escalated to senior managers.
This led to a failure to understand the “the security risk in relation to transferring of personal data between IT systems”, the regulator said.
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Alongside the formal reprimand, SYP has also received a number of recommendations for measures to take to ensure improvements in data-protection practice going forward.
This includes ensuring that all information is “marked in a clear, identifiable way” and that there is “an adequate storage backup solution and process” in the event that video footage is lost. The ICO has also called on the force to undertake a risk-assessment before allowing any third parties to access its IT systems – and then to “continue to shadow” any external figures or organisations while they access SYP data. All third-party access should also be informed by clearly defined “roles and responsibilities”.
As well as a playbook for progress for SYP, the watchdog hopes that the recommendations provide “prompts to all police forces and services who use BWV to check and improve, where necessary, data protection practices”.
Sally Anne Poole, head of investigations at the ICO, said: “This incident highlights the importance of having detailed policies and procedures in place to mitigate against the loss of evidence. People rightly have high expectations that our police forces and services, which protect us, also protect the personal information they hold. There is a lot to be learned from this incident and I encourage police forces and services and other organisation using this type of technology to check and make improvements where they find potential flaws.”
Deputy chief constable of South Yorkshire Police Sarah Poolman added: “We do not underestimate the damage any loss of data can do to our communities’ trust and confidence in us. Whilst the Information Commissioner’s Office has welcomed the steps taken by us in the immediate aftermath, such as trying to retrieve the footage and informing those affected, we are sorry that any victim of crime faced this challenge whilst going through the criminal justice system. We have already put processes in place to safeguard our data. Of the seven recommendations made by the ICO, all have been implemented.”
