Priti Patel, the UK home secretary, is under fire after 150,000 police arrest records were accidentally lost from a police database last week. The lost files include DNA, arrest history records and fingerprints. As these files are now lost from the Police National Computer (PNC), essential evidence from crime scenes no longer exist which means that criminals will be able to go free for crimes they have committed.
The Home Office released a statement that said: “The technical issue with the Police National Computer has been resolved, and we are working at pace with law enforcement partners to assess its impact. The issue related to people arrested and released where no further action had been taken and no records of criminal or dangerous persons have been deleted. No further records can be deleted.”
The shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, believes that the Home Office’s statement was not good enough saying that, “it’s not good enough for the home secretary to hide behind her junior minister on this when there has been such a major security breach on her watch. It’s now vital that she makes an urgent statement outlining the true scale of the issue, when ministers were informed and what the plan is to provide public reassurance. Yet again, Conservative incompetence is putting people’s safety at risk.”
