UK says ‘human error’ wiped 1000s of police computer records

A police car speeds down Oxford Street in London, UK. Malthouse said some 400,000 records were wiped, including 213,000 offense records and 170,000 arrest records. — Bloomberg

LONDON: Britain’s policing minister said on Jan 18 that “human error” led to hundreds of thousands of DNA records and other data on criminal suspects being erased from the national police computer.

Kit Malthouse told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the mishap occurred during a “regular housekeeping process” on the computer, which holds 13 million records. He said some 400,000 records were wiped, including 213,000 offense records and 170,000 arrest records.