What does the Data Protection Act say?
The 1998 act states that any personal information held by the police should be “adequate, relevant and not excessive” and “not kept for longer than is necessary”. According to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC), which monitors compliance with the act, it is up to individual police forces to decide what information should be retained. It states that a balance must be struck between the need to catch offenders and protect the public from crime, and the need to ensure that those who are innocent or only guilty of minor misdemeanours are treated fairly. The previous act (1984) made broadly similar requirements. Neither act set time limits for the destruction of particular types of information. Although guidance from the information commissioner states that police forces should regularly review the personal data they hold and delete any “which is no longer required for their purposes”. How did Humberside interpret this? Mr Westwood said his force had interpreted the act to mea
