Greater Manchester Police fined £150,000 over lost victim interview DVDs

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has been fined £150,000 after it allowed DVDs containing interviews with victims of violent or sexual crimes to get lost in the post.

The discs, which showed named victims talking openly, have never been found despite being sent to the Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS) of the National Crime Agency by recorded delivery.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) found the force breached data protection law as it failed to keep highly sensitive personal information in its care secure and did not have appropriate measures in place to guard against accidental loss.

The ICO investigation also revealed that the force had been sending unencrypted DVDs by recorded delivery to SCAS since 2009 and only stopped after the security breach in 2015.

GMP was previously fined £150,000 in 2012 after an unencrypted USB stick was stolen.

ICO enforcement group manager Sally Anne Poole said: "When people talk to the police they have every right to expect that their information is handled with the utmost care and respect.

"Greater Manchester Police did not do this.

"GMP was cavalier in its attitude to this data and it showed scant regard for the consequences that could arise by failing to keep the information secure."

Greater Manchester Police received a similar fine in 2012 over a stolen USB stick. Credit: PA

GMP's Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said: “The discs were sent in accordance with national guidance for sending sensitive information, however when it became apparent that the disks may have been lost we immediately reviewed our own procedures and as a result postal delivery is no longer used by GMP for sensitive information.

"Since this particular incident happened, the national guidance surrounding sending sensitive information has also been amended with the aim of preventing similar occurrences happening in future.

"I want to make it clear that we will continue to do everything in our power to treat any information given to police in the strictest confidence."

The force said that it informed the three victims concerned as soon as the loss of the DVDs became apparent.

Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts added: "We understand that seeing the news of this sanction reaching the public eye may bring back vivid memories of what happened to them and so we are providing them with support from specially trained officers."