Suffolk Constabulary apologise following data breach

More than 1,000 people have seen their data breached as part of an information leak at Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies.

Both forces have identified an issue relating to a very small percentage of responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for crime statistics, issued between April 2021 and March 2022.

A technical issue has led to some raw data belonging to the constabularies being included within the files produced in response to the FOI requests in question. The data was hidden from anyone opening the files, but it should not have been included.

The data impacted was information held on a specific police system and related to crime reports. The data includes personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses, and suspects, as well as descriptions of offences. It related to a range of offences, including domestic incidents, sexual offences, assaults, thefts and hate crime.

A full and thorough analysis into the data impacted has now been completed and the forces have started the process of contacting those individuals who need to be notified about an impact to their personal data.

This will be done via letter, phone, and in some cases, face to face depending on what information was impacted and what support is required. It is expected to be completed by the end of September and they said a total of 1,230 people whose data has been breached will be notified.

Within the notification, people will be provided with all the necessary information including what personal data specific to them has been impacted and details of who they can contact for support.

A dedicated specialist team has been set up to handle any queries about the incident. They can be reached on 01603 276647 or email dataincident@suffolk.police.uk

Strenuous efforts have been made to determine if the data released has been accessed by anyone outside of policing. At this stage there has been nothing to suggest that this is the case.

If members of the public are not contacted by the constabularies, they do not need to take any action.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been notified and is being kept updated.