Officer fined over data breaches

Anna Wong resigned from Lothian and Borders Police

A policewoman who illegally looked up information about her friends on police computers has been fined £1,000.

Anna Wong, 26, a constable with Lothian and Borders Police, accessed details about members of the Chinese community while working in Edinburgh.

Wong resigned from the force and will not face a police misconduct hearing as she is no longer an officer.

Wong, originally from Hong Kong, had earlier pled guilty to 28 breaches of the Data Protection Act.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the police force is now supervising the training of new officers and is retraining existing police on their use of the Data Protection Act.

Sentencing her on Tuesday, Sheriff Elizabeth Jarvie, QC, said she was guilty of a "very serious breach of trust".

I am satisfied that the police have taken the appropriate action in terms of training and retraining of police to ensure such breaches do not take place again Sheriff Elizabeth Jarvie Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Wong joined the force in August 2005 after training at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, and was posted to St Leonards police station in Edinburgh.

She was allowed limited access to the Scottish Intelligence Database as part of her job as a uniformed community patrol officer.

For more than a year, between March 2006 to June 2007, she looked up information on Chinese people on the database.

Wong claimed she did not know the information was protected and said other officers knew she was looking at the data.

But fiscal depute Neil Almond, prosecuting, said Wong would have received full training on what she was allowed to access.

Wong was interviewed and admitted looking at the details, but said she had not passed any information on.

"She stated that she knew the individual and was checking whether he had provided full details on documentation available to the police as she had concerns via third parties outside the police," said Mr Almond.

'Flawed interpretation'

In relation to the other individual, Wong said she was concerned about this person's activities and wanted to know more about them, said Mr Almond.

Wong, who lives in Edinburgh, was suspended on full pay in January 2009. She was originally charged with 54 offences but the crown accepted her plea of guilty to 28 of them.

Her solicitor, David O'Hagan, said Wong had begun "innocently" looking for information about two people she knew.

"Her interpretation as to what she could access was obviously flawed," he said.

He said she was now working as a temporary office assistant and earning half as much as she had in the police.

Sheriff Jarvie said she had reduced the fine from £1,500 because Wong was a first offender and had pled guilty.

"I am satisfied that the police have taken the appropriate action in terms of training and retraining of police to ensure such breaches do not take place again," said the sheriff.