POLICE say they take breaches of the Data Protection Act seriously after a survey claimed to show the extent to which confidential police databases are abused.

The survey, on behalf of Big Brother Watch, which is a campaigning arm of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, revealed that hundreds of officers, as well as civilian staff, had been found guilty of wrongly using confidential information systems.

Examples included people running background checks on friends and possible partners to, more seriously, passing on sensitive information about police inquiries to criminal gangs and drug dealers.

The period in question was from May 2008 to May this year.

The figures showed that among the forces in this region, four people at Cleveland Police had lost their job because of breaches – three of whom were civilians. A further ten had been disciplined – seven police officers and three civilians.

One civilian worker was fired at Durham Police and three were disciplined. No police officers breached data protection rules.

Northumbria said six people had been sacked for breaches – two police officers and four civilian staff. Twenty police officers had been disciplined and a further 19 civilian staff.

No criminal convictions through the courts resulted from any of the breaches.

North Yorkshire Police did not respond to the survey.

Big Brother Watch director Daniel Hamilton said: “Police forces must adopt a zero tolerance approach to this kind of behaviour.

“Those found guilty of abusing their position, should be sacked on the spot.”

Martin Campbell, head of the professional standards department at Cleveland Police, said: “Any breaches of the Data Protection Act are taken extremely seriously.

“Each case is looked at on its own merits and, according to the circumstances involved, the most appropriate action is then taken against anyone found to have misused systems.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Thomson, head of Northumbria Police’s professional standards department, said: “Northumbria Police – one of the largest forces in the country – has an effective Counter Corruption Unit, which has had a number of high-profile successes over recent years and we continue to hold all of our officers and staff to the very highest levels of professional behaviour.”

Superintendent Darren Ellis, head of professional standards and legal services at Durham Police, said “Access to confidential databases are monitored daily and there are strategies in place to both prevent their abuse and alert us should a breach occur.”