Police documents dumped in street

An inquiry has been ordered after confidential police documents were discovered dumped on a Teesside street.

The documents, which are several years old, include the names, dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers of dozens of members of the public.

They were found on a grass verge in the Hemlington area of Middlesbrough by a man out walking his dog.

Cleveland Police said it was taking the incident "extremely seriously" and had launched an immediate investigation.

The documents included forms and a notebook containing details of offences and victims of crime.

'Human error'

Cleveland Police deputy chief constable Ron Hogg said: "We take the security of all documentation and data extremely seriously and have stringent policies and procedures in place for safeguarding the massive amount of information held, stored and disposed of by the police.

"We are very disappointed that this incident has occurred and naturally we have launched an immediate investigation into the circumstances.

"We would not want to pre-judge this investigation, but a key line of inquiry is the possibility that the information came into the public domain as a result of human error.

"The documents involved were several years old and the information contained within many of them is likely to be well out of date.

"Nevertheless, we are undertaking a thorough examination of the material to see whether there may be the possibility of an adverse impact on any individual."

Mr Hogg said that no financial information was involved.