MPs uncertain about police practice 01/05/2007 00:00

1 May 2007

THE HAGUE – The Christian democrats CDA and Labour party PvdA in Parliament want to know whether the Juvenile Information System used by police in the southern region of the Zuid-Holland province complies with privacy regulations.

Officers register information on young people who hang around on the streets by photographing them and storing their private information in a database. The young people haven't committed any crimes, however.

The information system is reportedly a good tool in fighting nuisance on the streets and allows police to keep an eye on the youths' behaviour.

The coalition parties' factions in Parliament feel that the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) should investigate whether this kind of system is acceptable. "It is careless and extremely strange that this has never been checked for compliance," CDA MP Maarten Haverkamp said on Tuesday.

As soon as the government stores personal information in an electronic system, the ground rules of the system must be reviewed for compliance with the laws protecting privacy. Haverkamp and PvdA MP Attje Kuiken plan to write the home affairs minister asking for clarification.

The MPs stressed their support for efforts to clamp down on young troublemakers, but said there must be a clear reason for collecting private information on people.

"I'm not saying that the police are doing anything wrong. But we want to know whether this practice is being applied carefully and whether there are gaps in legislation that we might be able to remedy."

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news