Social Democrat Charged Over 46 Illegal Police Record Searches

SWEDEN - A Social Democrat politician in Karlskrona has been charged with data breach after 46 allegedly unauthorized searches in police IT systems. Colleagues at the local jail reported her. She works as a jail guard and denies the crime.

It was not automatic police controls that exposed the suspected register breaches. Colleagues at the Karlskrona jail reacted to Pia Hansson's behaviour and raised the alarm, Blekinge Läns Tidning reports.

According to the indictment, the municipal politician ran searches in police systems on 46 occasions without a work-related need. She is now facing a court process and denies wrongdoing.

Colleagues: curiosity, not work

In police interviews, several colleagues describe how she repeatedly opened reports with no link to her jail duties. They say she could sit at the jail office going through cases that caught her interest, then read details out loud to other staff.

Colleagues said her behaviour appeared driven by "pure curiosity".

Among the case types she is alleged to have opened are rape and other sexual-crime investigations, deaths in homes, wildlife road accidents, and internal police training material. On one occasion she allegedly opened an assault report after recognising a former colleague's address, then checked that person's links to others.

She denies the crime

Hansson rejects the accusations. In police interviews she said the searches were part of her job and that she needed to stay informed about ongoing police operations - including preparing cells and judging how violent people brought in might be.

Cases that were not relevant, she said, were accidental clicks. "I have done nothing other than try to do a good job," she told police, according to BLT.

Prosecutors have also asked the district court to obtain a statement from the Police Authority's staff disciplinary board about her employment.

Party reviews her political roles

The charge has also hit the Social Democrats in Karlskrona. Hansson has served on the municipal council and the labour-market committee. She stood at place 21 on the party's local list and was proposed for several permanent political posts.

After the suspicions became known, the local nomination committee had to rethink its proposals and find other candidates. Hansson has told the party she is stepping back from political work pending the court's ruling.

She has not been convicted and denies the accusations. Any effect on her continued police employment would depend on a conviction.