The Information and Privacy Commissioner for the Canadian prairie province of Saskatachewan found on Monday that Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) officers had improperly accessed investigation files without authorization.
The privacy breach involved three police officers who viewed sensitive investigation records of nine individuals for personal reasons, potentially compromising ongoing investigations. An audit revealed that one of the officers had accessed the personal information of five individuals, queried addresses, and four individuals linked to those addresses, used another officer’s credentials to access the records management system (RMS), and printed pages from a specific file. Two other officers were found to have accessed the information of a single individual, including names, information related to their criminal history and police involvement, details of investigations, and license plate numbers. Privacy Commissioner Ron Kruzeniski is now seeking written statements from two officers to confirm that they did not share sensitive information.
The three police officers acted in violation of section 16 of the federal Access to Information Act, which allows for exemptions related to law enforcement investigations. Additionally, the Saskatchewan Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act establishes rules on how local authorities collect, use, and protect personal information in Saskatchewan and applies to municipal police services. Section 28(1) of the act provides that no public body may use personal information under its control except for the purpose for which the information was obtained or for a use consistent with that purpose.
The investigation, initiated under subsection 2(1)(f)(viii.1) of the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, followed a request from the Superintendent of the SPS for an audit by the Access and Privacy Unit. This audit aimed to identify any unauthorized access to a specific investigation file in the records management system from the previous year. This move echoes a similar situation in British Columbia, where five police officers challenged the constitutionality of an investigation into racist and pornographic WhatsApp messages. Additionally, a recent lawsuit accused the Ottawa Police Service of secretly wiretapping five Black officers, and a new report by the British Columbia rights commissioner has spotlighted systemic inequalities in the province.
