Police databases need stricter supervision: Amnesty International

Amnesty International wants the governments regulators to sharpen their supervision on the police databanks. Civilians can submit a complaint to the police against the collection and storage of their data, but these are “not effective legal means,” the human rights organization said.

The organization said in a statement that they have supported 31 demonstrators in their case against the police in the last years. it is reported that many of the complaints are not even dealt with by the police.

Amnesty pointed out that the police store the identity details of demonstrators, look at what people are putting on social media, and infiltrate group chats. The supervision of this is insufficient, the organization said.

If it were Amnesty’s decision, the Dutch Data Protection Authority and the National Ombudsman would look into a place for civilians to report their complaints regarding this issue. They also want there to be a better to delete unfairly stored data.

Police have admitted that their data collection was unjustified in six complaints procedures. However, they did not delete the registered info.

“It is good that the police have acknowledged that mistakes have been made,” said Dagmar Oudshoorn of Amnesty International. “Now, the policy must also be adjusted so that the same abuses can be prevented in the future. It is up to the supervisors to check this and advise the police.”