Police diary data blunder
Sensitive information on cases involving children left exposed at former CISOCA headquarters
Published:Thursday | January 16, 2025 | 12:13 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
Sensitive data in at least six police station diaries containing information of cases involving hundreds and possibly thousands of children were left exposed in an abandoned building on Ruthven Road in St Andrew that previously housed the headquarters of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA).
The Gleaner, yesterday, saw the massive, soiled, and dirty books lying on the floor of the facility.
Informed sources told The Gleaner that the building now provides shelter for undesirable elements who sleep there at nights and use sections of the premises to relieve themselves.
The front cover of one of the station diaries showed that it was used to collect data on child offences for the period 2015 to 2017. Another station diary indicates that data was collected over the period 2013 to 2014.
Attorney-at-law Chukwuemeka Cameron yesterday described the disturbing development as shocking.
“To have this highly sensitive information lying around is egregious, and this is what the Data Protection Act guards against,” he told The Gleaner.
“This is a worst-case scenario. This is where it sounds like you have sensitive information about offences that have been committed against children. This sort of information is kept confidential. In a court case you don’t mention the name of a child because even the fact that there was an allegation of an offence could blight a child’s future,” the attorney added.
Cameron indicated that the exposure of such private data could also have a negative impact on alleged offenders who are innocent until they are proven guilty by a court.
He said the data protection law stipulates that personal data must be kept confidentially. The legislation recommends eight data-protection standards to which persons or companies handling personal data must adhere.
“By March 31, you have to file your data protection impact assessment where you would have looked at each process and identify the risks associated with each process and look at the life cycle of how you receive information and how you dispose of information safely and what are the risks associated with how we process personal data,” said Cameron, who is a consultant on the data protection law.
He argued that when an organisation is implementing a new process, such as a change of location, it is required to do a data protection impact assessment and create an exit strategy as to how to treat with this personal data.
“One of the data-processing standards is that you must have a data-retention policy,” said Cameron, adding that all data controllers, including the police, are required to implement and comply with the eight data-processing standards.
No exceptions
He insisted that the data-protection legislation mandates all government agencies to appoint a data-protection officer.
“There are no exceptions because all government agencies process sensitive personal data.”
However, Cameron reasoned that Jamaica’s data-protection regime was still in its early implementation phase, and as such, there can be missteps.
“These things will happen even in countries that have mature data-protection regimes. It is not unthinkable that this could happen because the law has only been implemented last year,” Cameron said.
“We are at the beginning of our journey, but this is an example of the dangers that can happen if we don’t take it seriously,” he added.
He said the leaders of private- and public-sector organisations, including board members and chief executive officers, must understand the importance of data protection and take it seriously.
Kerry-Ann Bailey, superintendent in charge of CISOCA, who took over the leadership of the police body in October last year, said she could not speak to how the station diaries were left at the premises.
CISOCA is now located at 6 Upper Lady Musgrave Road in St Andrew.
Bailey, who took over at the new location, said she was working with what was handed over to her at the Lady Musgrave facility.
The new CISOCA head said the agency has ways of safeguarding station diaries that were no longer in use.
“When the diary is completed and we are changing over to a new diary, we would have storage facility and protection for them.”
CISOCA was established in 1989 as a response to the need for police sensitivity to victims of sexual assault and for improved confidentiality in the taking of reports from victims in order to allow for the speedy and effective investigation of sexual offences.
The police body said it was also established to create an atmosphere that encourages victims to report incidents of sexual offences and to assist in enhancing the rehabilitation of victims through counselling and therapy.