Name Kept On File By Police

oulu

This is hypothetical, Can anybody give their opinion I know that is all someone can give on this site. If my friend who is from finland was put in the drunk tank after taking to much beer and he fell asleep and say they took him to the cells for been drunk.
If he was not charged with anything but when he needed police clearence for a job abroad. And say he did not get it,due to been in the drunk tank .The police said it will be on file for 5 yrs with 3 yrs remaining. Is this right under EU law, could he bring this to an EU court.Is his human rights been breched.In finland this is allowed but since they are part of EU could he have a case.[/QUOTE]

besty

Please read the charter and rephrase the post.

Eru

It can be kept on file for life, why would someones arrest be wiped at all?

sh_o

Karlitosway1978 wrote:

It can be kept on file for life, why would someones arrest be wiped at all?

I find that hard to believe, just because you are arrested does not mean that you are guilty of an offence... presumption of innocence and all that.
In the (unlikely !? ) event of someone being wrongfully arrested, e.g. incorrect identification etc, should you have that left on your record for life?

Surely there is an Act which limits how long such information may be kept?
I know that you do have a right to have data removed from your record or pulse if it is incorrect through the data protection acts, or alternativly through an order of the court but surely a record of arrest (without a later charge) expires after a time?

Eru

sh_o wrote:

I find that hard to believe, just because you are arrested does not mean that you are guilty of an offence... presumption of innocence and all that.
In the (unlikely !? ) event of someone being wrongfully arrested, e.g. incorrect identification etc, should you have that left on your record for life?

Surely there is an Act which limits how long such information may be kept?
I know that you do have a right to have data removed from your record or pulse if it is incorrect through the data protection acts, or alternativly through an order of the court but surely a record of arrest (without a later charge) expires after a time?

Who said at any point you were guilty of anything? Not I and certainly not the record showing that you were arrested. It shows a true reflection, that you were arrested and nothing more.

As for removal under Data protection, thats not true, incorrect information must be amended but not removed unless the entire thing never happened. For example, you being named in a search but it wasnt you. Then your name would be removed but not the entire record or more likely, a succesful appeal against a sentence would result in the recorded sentence being amended.

As for record of arrest, I would have thought in this day and age of demanding accountability that Gardai NOT being allowed amend records after the event would be desired.

Nope, records of an action regardless of why how or who are kept for life, your medical records dont expire, your tax records dont expire, your buying history with a company does not expire, your motor tax details dont expire and neither does your involvement with Gardai expire. If you have any involvement with Gardai then you are on PULSE. What difference does it make? Your car was damaged 10 years ago and PULSE shows this, who cares? When you think about it, wiping records after a certain lenght of time makes no sense whatsover, should we now consider The Monk or the General to have clean slates?

You are confusing records with samples. Samples taken during an investigation must be destroyed in most cases and can only be kept under certain circumstances (such as fingerprints)

Just to finish, if you were arrested under wrong ID do you mean the Gardai thought you were someone else or that you were mis-identified by a witness? Theres a wide area in wrong ID and you need to clarify what your speaking about.

sh_o

Karlitosway1978 wrote:

Who said at any point you were guilty of anything? Not I and certainly not the record showing that you were arrested. It shows a true reflection, that you were arrested and nothing more.

True - My point is though that if an adverse inference is drawn from the fact that you were arrested, then this should not remain on your record. For example, if you were to be refused a visa to travel abroad because you had been arrested and not charged.

Karlitosway1978 wrote:

As for removal under Data protection, thats not true, incorrect information must be amended but not removed unless the entire thing never happened.

If the information is incorrect, then it may also be amended which may result in it being removed but I take your point. - For other members of the list not familiar with the area, take a look here

Karlitosway1978 wrote:

As for record of arrest, I would have thought in this day and age of demanding accountability that Gardai NOT being allowed amend records after the event would be desired.

There is a difference between Gardai doing this as of their own volition when comparing to an Act which, purely hypotethically speaking, could dictate that a record of arrest where no further action is taken or is intended to be taken be removed after 6 months.

Karlitosway1978 wrote:

Nope, records of an action regardless of why how or who are kept for life, your medical records dont expire, your tax records dont expire,....... What difference does it make? ....

If it makes no difference and there is no adverse inference drawn, then that is ok. The difficulty with data retention though is that without safeguards, and that applies to a store purchase as much as tax records etc, what is to stop people from using your data for a different reason to that for which it was collected.

Karlitosway1978 wrote:

When you think about it, wiping records after a certain lenght of time makes no sense whatsover, should we now consider The Monk or the General to have clean slates?

I am certainly not making that point, a conviction is a matter of public record and should not be removed.

Eru

Being arrested is not reflected on a police character report and therefore is not used against a person making any form of application. If your arrested only the police and you know, its never enters the public domain or any other agency.

As for wiping, look at it from another angle, civil claims can take years to get too court and they refer to a criminal investigation if there was one so the records are important.
Another angle, a complaint through the complaints/ombudsman about your treatment, the fact that you were arrested would show you are talking about an actual event and not a loony.

Victor

I don't think its a problem, whether someone is arrested for being intoxicated in public or somesuch to have that on their record. The alternative is a conviction for being intoxicated in public, which would be a lot worse.

For something serious I might see it differently.

In any case the Garda tends to be slow in providing information to / for third parties.