PC to face trial over data breach

Mr Anderson denied 10 charges against him at Stirling Sheriff Court

A police officer is to face trial accused of illegally obtaining personal data.

PC Robert Anderson, formerly a dispatcher with Central Scotland Police in Stirling, has been suspended since March.

He faces 10 charges under the Data Protection Act.

The charges date from January 2004 to January 2007 and allege he obtained data "for a purpose that was not the prevention or detection of crime".

The charges also state that Mr Anderson "knowingly or recklessly obtained personal data without the consent of the data controller, namely the chief constable".

Mr Anderson, 30, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, pleaded not guilty by letter to all the charges at Stirling Sheriff Court and did not appear in person.

Trial was set for 12 March next year, with a pre-trial hearing on 26 February.

A spokesman for Central Scotland Police said: "The officer has been suspended since March.

"At this point in time we have no further comment to make."

Joint intelligence

It is understood that Mr Anderson was charged after being investigated by Central Scotland Police's Professional Standards Unit, the name given to its complaints divison.

As a dispatcher, he was tasked with controlling the movements of officers and cars in the area for which he was responsible.

The Scottish Intelligence Database, nickamed "Sid" - is described as "a system for all forces and agencies to share their intelligence data and open up force boundaries".

It can be accessed for crime fighting by all eight Scottish police forces, the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, British Transport Police, the MoD Police, the Scottish Prison Service, and the UK Immigration Service's Joint Intelligence Unit.

It was officially launched at the Scottish Police College on 12 December 2003.