The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a data breach investigation. This is because it is better dealt with by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
The complaint
Mrs Y complains the Commissioner has failed to investigate a data breach by her local police force. She says this has caused significant upset and repercussions on her life and treatment of her health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mrs Y and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs Y’s local police force allegedly breached data protection rules when it shared information about Mrs Y with a third party in summer 2021. The local police force investigated the breach before referring Mrs Y to take her complaint to either the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) or to her Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).
Mrs Y contacted her PCC at the start of April 2022. She says she has had her complaint acknowledged but not received a response.
Analysis Mrs Y is unhappy with the lack of response to the complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue, which is the police data breach. The substantive issue appears to be a matter for the IOPC.
Further, the IOPC are better place than us to consider this complaint as can consider both the complaint about the police force and the PCC and consider how this has impacted on Mrs Y. Consequently, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because the IOPC is better placed to consider it than us.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman