A letter of concern was issued by the Office of the Data Protection Authority after it reviewed complaints from two witnesses who claimed that Police Complaints Commission chairman Robert Jordan had spoken about the details of a case in front of colleagues at his work, and disclosed personal data.
‘Commitments were made by the Home Affairs Committee, which oversees the Police Complaints Commission, and we were satisfied with the actions taken,’ said data protection commissioner Brent Homan.
‘We closed the matter with a letter of concern to Home Affairs. There was no formal determination on the alleged breach.
‘Towards promoting compliance, it is not our practice to publicise details of all matters resolved consensually outside of formal investigation.’
Mr Homan acknowledged that there was no admission of wrongdoing from Home Affairs when the circumstances surrounding the allegations were reviewed last autumn.
Home Affairs president Marc Leadbeater fully supported the Police Complaints Commission when replying to questions recently submitted by the Guernsey Press.
‘The committee is satisfied that the Police Complaints Commission takes its data protection obligations extremely seriously.
It has not been made aware of any findings of a data protection issue in relation to these specific matters,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
Mr Jordan declined to comment.
The complaints against him were submitted in September last year by two former work colleagues who signed witness statements about events alleged to have taken place 18 months earlier.
They claimed that Mr Jordan spoke openly in the office they shared about a Police Complaints Commission case which involved another person with whom one of the complainants had an altercation some weeks earlier.
‘My work had nothing to do with the altercation or a police complaint,’ said one of the complainants in a witness statement.
‘I did not understand... why Mr Jordan was discussing what I presumed to be confidential police complaints or appeals, especially in a relatively open office with more than a few people listening in.’
The witness statements were sent to the Data Protection Authority and Home Affairs and also to Deputy Robert Curgenven after he made a speech in the States Assembly raising concerns about the Police Complaints Commission.
Deputy Leadbeater said they were also shared with other States members.
‘My advice at the time was that the members of the public who penned these statements should make any formal complaint they may wish to raise to the Office of the Data Protection Authority,’ he said.
‘That is the authority that would receive and investigate any complaints about potential data breaches, and that investigatory role is not something that Home Affairs Committee members can undertake.’
Mr Homan said the Office of the Data Protection Authority always tried to take a proportionate approach to complaints and only took formal enforcement actions in a minority of cases.
‘In the majority of instances, matters are resolved outside of formal action and this was one of those instances,’ he said.
‘While there was no formal complaint lodged, we reviewed the information provided and engaged with relevant parties to understand the circumstances.’
The Office of the Data Protection Authority has said in the past that informal resolution can address concerns satisfactorily without the need for lengthy investigations. It can provide a quicker path for individuals seeking remediation and, when necessary, improvements in an organisation’s data protection practices.
Mr Jordan became chairman of the Police Complaints Commission in 2020 and was re-appointed two years ago.
Home Affairs has pledged to reform the police complaints process during the current States term.