Detective faces sack for passing on data
A DETECTIVE is facing the sack for revealing confidential police force data in a bid to help her friend’s brother.
Detective Constable Kate Buesing was guilty of a “serious dereliction of duty” by passing on the information, a court heard.
Jurors were told the 36-year-old West Mercia Police officer revealed details of an assault allegation made by a woman against her husband while the couple were divorcing in October 2014.
Buesing accessed the log con- taining the information and supplied it to her friend, who was the complainant’s sister-in-law.
The officer, who was based at Evesham in Worcestershire, was convicted after a trial of obtaining personal data and disclosing it to another person.
She was fined £500 for each of the two offences at Warwick Crown Court.
Passing sentence, Judge Stephen Eyre QC told Buesing: “The public give information, sensitive personal information, to the police service which is kept in trust. You deliberately, foolishly, to help a friend, breached that trust.
“You looked at the computer system simply to help out a friend, knowing you were giving her information to assist her brother in a family matter which was nothing to do with you. It was a serious dereliction of duty.”
The judge said the sentence reflected the fact that Buesing would “almost inevitably” lose her £35,000-a-year job after being convicted. Andrew Wallace, prosecuting, had earlier told the court : “A police officer is under a duty not to disclose personal data without the consent of the data controller, who would be the chief constable.”
Richard Gibbs, defending, said Buesing had not been suspended pending the outcome of the case but had been moved to other duties with the force.
After the trial, West Mercia Police confirmed the officer would face misconduct proceedings.