VicPD officer loses notebook with people’s private information at site of warrant execution

VicPD have confirmed with Victoria Buzz that one of their officers recently misplaced their notebook during a warrant execution.

According to VicPD, the notebook contained active case details along with suspects, victims and persons of interest’s personal information.

“In this case the notebook was left behind at the scene of a search warrant and was temporarily in possession of a person who is known to police for suspected criminal activity,” said a VicPD spokesperson. 

They added that they do not believe the information in the book was compromised, however they have informed anyone who may have been impacted. 

VicPD says the notebook was missing for a total of eight days before it was recovered. 

“We do take precautions during search warrants including an inventory of police equipment, but in this case the notebook was not identified as missing,” said the spokesperson. 

This is the second time in 14 months that a VicPD officer has lost their notebook with sensitive information within.

Related:

• Lost VicPD notebook containing personal info used to commit criminal offence

In the last instance of a notebook going missing, the VicPD officer responsible didn’t follow procedure in reporting the situation to a supervisor immediately. 

Following the information being misplaced, the lost notebook was used to commit criminal activity.

According to VicPD, this officer was given a verbal reprimand as punishment. 

In this most recent instance, VicPD says the officer involved did follow proper procedure in notifying their supervisor. 

Unlike last time this happened, VicPD did not make a public statement of the mistake made. 

“We do recognize that incidents like this could be mitigated with technology, and we are actively researching a digital solution to paper notebooks in hopes of reducing the risk and impact of misplacement in the future,” VicPD concluded.