Police behind Green leaks ‘not acting in public interest’
THE police officers accused of leaking information on Damian Green were not acting in the public interest and should not use that as an excuse to escape prosecution, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has said.
Sir Thomas Winsor, who oversees standards in policing across England and Wales, said officers had an over- whelming duty to protect confidential information and breaching that risked undermining public confidence.
He said the police’s job was to uphold the law, adding: “They are not the arbiters of personal morality.”
Former Asst Commissioner Bob Quick and Det Con Neil Lewis are accused of leaking information to the media about pornography allegedly found on Mr Green’s Commons computer.
It was allegedly part of a decade-long vendetta against Mr Green, which culminated in his resignation as First Secretary of State on Wednesday evening.
Both men have denied wrongdoing, but could face unlimited fines if found guilty of data protection offences.
Earlier this week Scotland Yard passed the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office to carry out an investigation. In a letter to Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, Mr Winsor wrote: “The special powers which citizens confer on police officers are inseparable from the obligations of special trust placed in police officers to enable them to do their duty. “That trust requires every police officer to respect and keep confidential information which they obtain in the course of their duties and which is irrelevant to their inquiries and discloses no criminal conduct.” He added: “The obligation of confidentiality and the duty not to break trust is an enduring one. It does not end when a police officer retires.”
Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan Police is clear that confidential information gathered during any police inquiry should remain confidential. That is an enduring confidentiality regardless of whether an officer leaves the service.”