Police checking on residents’ COVID status shakes public trust: HCCI

Who knew what about Hamilton police accessing COVID-19 test results and will those whose data was accessed ever be informed?

The Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI) says the extent to which Hamilton police used a database of private health information is another example of why people don't trust police.

Provincial data obtained and released by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) on Monday revealed Hamilton police accessed a COVID-19 database - one containing the names, dates of birth and addresses of Ontarians who tested positive for COVID - more than 10,000 times over a three-month period. The province granted police and other first responders access to the database through an emergency order in April, though the order has now ended and access to the database was discontinued July 20.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario is now asking questions of Hamilton police and other forces whose prolific engagement with the database suggests indiscriminate" use.

The IPC wants to know how, when and why Hamilton police used the database.

The privacy commissioner will also look to ensure there was no unlawful use or retention" of data.

HCCI wants answers, too.

The police have no business dealing with health data," said Kojo Damptey, interim executive director of HCCI. How can we trust an institution that is looking at data over 10,000 times?"

On Wednesday, HCCI sent a letter to police, the mayor, city councillors, public health, MPPs and Ontario's Solicitor General with a list of questions:

• Will residents whose personal data was accessed be told it was accessed?

• How would accessing this information benefit police or the public?

• Did police keep any data?

• And did the police services board, on which the mayor sits, know about police's access to the database?

This behaviour and lack of accountability to the residents of Hamilton is concerning," the letter reads.

The mayor's office confirmed it received the letter and is reviewing it.

Meanwhile, Damptey worries police may have accessed data arbitrarily" for any matter they were investigating. He questions, too, what other private information police quietly have access to.

He said this serves as yet another example of why Hamiltonians - particularly those in marginalized communities who have already had negative encounters with officers - do not trust the police.

Unnecessary collection of residents' data reminds Damptey of the police practice of carding, in which police documented citizens' personal information even though they were not under arrest. The now-banned practice disproportionately affected racialized individuals in Ontario.

Hamilton police say the COVID-19 database allowed police to protect the health and well-being of our officers and the community."

Only police communication operators and supervisors had access to the database, and they only accessed it when someone's COVID status was unclear during a call for service, said police spokesperson Jackie Penman.

If an individual called police, they were asked a series of screening questions. Based on the answers to the screening questions, officers responded accordingly," Penman said. The database was only used in situations where an individual could not provide the answers to the screening questions or they were calling on behalf of someone else. For example, an individual heard a disturbance in an adjoining unit."

Whether someone's name was on the list affected the level of PPE" officers were required to wear, she said.

On Tuesday, Penman said police stored no personal data. On Wednesday, she said: Police would flag the address for 60 days as a possible COVID hazard should police need to respond to the address in the future. No other information was retained. The flags have all been removed from the system since the database was rescinded ..."

The database did not note if an individual had an active" case of COVID or if they had recovered.

Andrea Horwath, the leader of Ontario's NDP, called the number of times Hamilton police accessed the database - 10,293 times between April 17 and July 20 - outrageous."

I was shocked, frankly," Horwath said. It's just not appropriate to have any agency be able to access people's personal health information."

Horwath said the NDP opposed the province's decision to allow police to access individuals' COVID information before the emergency order came in effect in April. While the damage is done," Horwath now wants police to destroy any information taken from the portal and to inform anyone whose data was accessed.

She called the issue a privacy rights breach."

The province, meanwhile, is defending its decision to allow police access to the data.

During the height of the outbreak and given the unprecedented nature of this virus, it was imperative that our first responders had access to essential information to take the appropriate precautions to protect themselves and to reduce the potential for community spread of COVID-19 while answering the thousands of calls for service they respond to every day," read a statement from a spokesperson for Ontario's Solicitor General, Sylvia Jones.

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com