§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will specify for each police force the number of officers investigated by the Police Complaints Authority in relation to misuse of the police national computer in the case of the BP and National number plate competition; and if he will further specify the number of officers in each force who (a) were and (b) were not subject to disciplinary proceedings.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe information available in the Department is as follows.
The investigation team led by the Assistant Chief Constable of Sussex, Mr. Scott, examined a total of 529 inquiries made of the Police National Computer in connection with vehicle registration numbers displayed in the BP and National Competition; 157 of these were found to have been made for proper reasons and in a further 163 34W cases either no record was found to show who made the inquiry or no record was made of the reason for the inquiry. In a further 113 cases, no culpable misuse was made of the information obtained from the computer. Formal discipline proceedings were instituted against officers in 12 forces as set out in the table. Three police officers whose inquiries of the computer were under investigation resigned.
Number Avon and Somerset 5 Cumbria 6 Devon and Cornwall 1 Dorset 1 Gloucestershire 1 Lancashire 1 Leicestershire 1 Merseyside 2 North Wales 3 South Wales 2 West Mercia 2 Wiltshire 1 No inquiries were made, of the computer in this connection by officers from the City of London, Durham, Humberside and Lincolnshire.