I got a police record today
Posted on December 11, 2007
Filed Under bureaucracy, computers, la-la-land, privacy, society, the future | 1 Comment
Today I got a police record and I’m not entirely happy about it. Someone tried to break into my summer house last night and after reporting it, the Guards (police) now know more about me than the crime itself.
Some kids tried to break into my house by smashing a double-glazed window at the rear of my property. Thankfully, the muppets made so much noise that the neighbours were alerted and scared them off. The neighbours also called the police, who did actually turn up to examine look at the crime scene.
Now, in fairness, I don’t expect any CSI-type examination, nor do I expect the police to catch the idiots. How could they?
I visited the police station today to report it and get a ‘log number’ for my insurance claim. The crime happened in a small town where car break-ins so rare that they are reported in the local newspaper. When I entered the station (or barracks, as my relatives call it), there were two Guards having a bit of banter in the lobby. One of them politely asked what I wanted. When I replied that I wanted to report a crime, he got all excited and the two of them vanished, not to be seen again. The Guard who was actually manning the desk eventually turned up. As I said, it’s a small town so I just had to mention the address and she knew about it.
I didn’t have to tell her about the crime but, after getting the log number, she started to ask me for my name, address and date of birth. Not many people know that the Guards have a policy of recording everyone that comes into contact with them. It’s to do with their super-duper PULSE computer system (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively). Technically, I’m a victim of crime and now the police who fight crime now more about me than the crime itself. I now have a file on the police database and the criminals do not. And I’m not 100% comfortable with that.
There’s a phrase, ‘What have I got to hide?‘. Another way of looking at it is, ‘What have I got to lose?‘
I wanted to find out more about PULSE and Garda policy towards it. I’m sure they’ve nothing to hide but the search function of the Guards homepage doesn’t work! The only information about PULSE I can find on the official Garda website is this tidbit on their IT page:
PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively)
PULSE is the largest IT system within An Garda Síochána. The system is available to all members of An Garda Síochána nationwide and ensures that accurate up-to-date information is available to all members in responding to the demands of a modern police force.
Development and enhancements to the system are on-going. The most recent major development is the introduction of Fixed Charge Processing to process fixed charge offences or fines on-the-spot and enable the effective recording of penalty points resulting in the “penalty points” being integrated into PULSE.
If you search Googe.ie for ‘Garda, Pulse’, 50% of the entries on the first page are negative. Indeed, this one for the Data Protection Commissioner is interesting. The title is:
Gardai- Inappropriate data on “Pulse system” -data deleted when access request received- not fair to person- could frustrate the provisions of the Act
The Data Protection Commissioner keeps mentioning ‘the prevention, detection or investigation of crime’ when discussing PULSE so I guess these are central aims of the system. Now obviously, some will question why I’m so exercised about giving the police my date of birth. I guess it’s because I believe I live in a free country and I believe I’m allowed to go unhindered in the course of my business (there’s probably even something in the constitution about it??).
PULSE is considered a great success among (sic) law enforcement agencies throughout the world and the Guards would have us believe that several of them have visited Ireland to study it’s implementation. To my mind, it’s a nascent tracking system for a country’s citizens and not to be encouraged.
Before you make up your mind, think about those two phrases again: What have I got to hide? and What have I got to lose?.
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Well Is, obviously you’re in apanic about your ancestors’ activities.
All bunkum. Seems to be designed around the premise that if you report anything atall you’re deliberately seeking to waste police time due to some inane contrivance of your own.
Don’t think much of us in those gelaming spires, do they. I always say, I think we’ve got an attitude problem here…
:0)