154
Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Annual Report 2019
Error Investigation 5
Public Authority
Human or Technical:
Human (Applicant)
Classification:
Misinterpretation of open source research.
Data Acquired:
Recent log on activity for a social media account.
Description:
A police force was trying to locate and arrest a person wanted in
connection with serious firearms offences. An officer identified what
they believed was the wanted person’s Facebook profile and used a
communications data request to identify an address associated with the
active profile. Officers visited this address, which had been shown to be
associated with recent activity on the account.
Upon arrival, officers established the person living at the address had the
same name as the suspect but no link to the crime under investigation.
The Police subsequently identified that the two profiles were identical in
name but with a different numerical suffix.
Consequence:
Police visited the premise of an individual unconnected to their search.
There was no determination by the IPC, as the effect on those visited
was assessed not to have caused significant prejudice or harm.