When a Victoria police officer lost a notebook in December of 2022 containing rafts of personal identifying information — and the notebook fell into the wrong hands — one of those people ended up having their house broken into while she was there at home with her child.
“It was quite traumatic for them,” said the woman’s attorney, Donald J. McKay, who did not want to disclose his client’s name out of concern for her safety.
Now, for the second time in a little more than a year, a Victoria police officer has lost a notebook containing personal information — and again it includes this person’s details, McKay said.
According to a letter sent to McKay’s client by police, compromised information includes the client’s name, address and vehicle information. The letter was received on Monday (March 11), and the contents were provided to Black Press Media by McKay.
The letter advises the client to lock doors and allow police to flag their house for additional threat response, as well as telling them to have a second location to stay at.
It also provides a few details about the disappearance of the notebook, including that it was lost on Feb. 14, with police becoming aware it was misplaced on Feb. 20. It was recovered after eight days missing, during which time the letter says it was “in the possession of the criminal element in Victoria.”
Victoria Police spokesperson Cheryl Major confirmed the notebook was lost, and has since been recovered.
“We understand that any breach of privacy is concerning, and we apologize,” Major said in an emailed statement.
Unlike the situation that occurred when a notebook was lost in 2022 and that officer didn’t fess up until almost two months after the fact, the officer in this case notified higher ups immediately after realizing it was gone.
That first officer was eventually found guilty of misconduct and given a verbal reprimand after an investigation by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
The incident is not connected to the previous one, and does not involve the same officer.
“This is the first time a notebook has been misplaced since the December 2022 incident and this is overall a rare occurrence,” Major wrote.
Despite the warnings in the letter to McKay’s client, Major wrote that police have determined there is no reason to believe there is any risk to any person whose information was contained in the notebook.
“However, we are committed to helping each person feel safe; we have included safety steps for them to consider, and will work with any concerned individual to create a safety plan,” Major wrote.
Since the last incident, Major wrote that the policy regarding notebooks has been updated and now officers are required to report lost notebooks “as soon as practicable.” The department is also actively researching digital solutions to the reduce the risk of this happening again.
But McKay did not let the department off the hook.
“To me it’s just beyond belief that it would happen to the same people a second time.”
READ MORE: Personal information in Victoria police officer’s lost notebook used for Saanich crime
