Saskatoon police officers caught snooping for personal information

Three police officers were found to be snooping for personal information in the Saskatoon Police Service’s (SPS) records management system (RMS), according to an investigation report put out by the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner.

The report, released on Aug. 27 by Ronald Kruzeniski, found the officers looked through this information for personal and non business related reasons.

In October 2023, a superintendent of the SPS requested the service’s Access and Privacy Unit to conduct an audit to see if there had been inappropriate access to an investigation file.

The audit revealed that someone referred to as “Sworn Member A” accessed the information of five people inappropriately, and queried certain addresses and four people linked to them.

The report also revealed that the officer accessed this information using another members’ credentials while they were away from their computer.

Upon further investigation through the Professional Standards Division, two other members referred to as (Sworn Member B and Sworn Member C) had also accessed the personal information of another person inappropriately.

The report highlights that the personal information involved in the breach included general identifying information such as names, home address, and phone numbers as well as information relating to criminal history and police involvement, and licence plate numbers.

“Generally, licence plate numbers are not considered personal information, however in this case the SPS considers the information personal in nature, as [Sworn Member B]’s query of a licence plate in order to identify a vehicle owner was not for a business purpose,” the report read.

Nine people affected by breach

In total, the report says that nine people were affected and one of those people also reached out to the commissioner to investigate.

Kruzeniski notes that the SPS proactively reported the privacy breaches and made a reasonable effort to notify the people affected by sending registered letters.

The report states that once it was found out that Sworn Member A had inappropriately accessed the records, their access was revoked and there is currently no timeline as to when they will gain access again.

“SPS said in its investigation that Sworn Member A said they destroyed (printed) records and did not disclose the information to anyone,” the report read.

Kruzeniski recommends that Sworn Member A  provide written confirmation that they did not disclose any information to anyone else, and to return it within 30 days after the issue of the investigation report.

He also suggests SPS investigate further into where Sworn Member A took the records, who destroyed them, as well as when and how they were destroyed.

Investigation on Sworn Members B and C revealed that they did not make any further suspicious queries but Kruzeniski recommends both members provide written confirmation that they did not disclose any information to any other person.

The report’s findings also state that the officers disregarded the service’s policy and ignored a pop-up message on the RMS system that prohibits access for personal reasons.

“I agree with the SPS’ finding that the three sworn members inappropriately accessed information based on their own wilful decisions,” Kruzeniski wrote.

Furthermore, Kruzeniski suggests that the SPS provides training and reminders to employees to log off from RMS when leaving their computers, and that employees complete annual training on the The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The SPS told 650 CKOM this incident is still under administrative review when asked if any disciplinary action has been taken since the release of the investigation report.

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