Tue, 2024-12-31

Privacy Notice

The Bermuda Police Service (BPS) role is to make Bermuda safer by; protecting life and property; maintaining law and order; preserving the peace; bringing offenders to justice according to the law.

Any processing of personal information about you is carried out in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA). We are required to explain what information we hold about you, why we hold information about you, how we use that information and whether we will share that information with anyone else.

Under PIPA, “personal information” means any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. Examples include names, dates of birth, photographs, video footage, email addresses, and telephone numbers. “Sensitive personal information” is a defined term in PIPA that includes among others information relating to such aspects as place of origin, race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, health, disabilities, and religious belief. (Note: For a complete list, see section 7 of PIPA.) Full PDF Document.

This Privacy Notice sets out how the BPS lawfully processes personal data. It also outlines the steps we take to ensure that personal data is protected and describes the rights individuals have in relation to the data we process.

1. Data Privacy Officer

The Data Privacy Officer for the Bermuda Police Service can be contacted via DPO@bps.bm or by mail at:

BPS PIPA Office

Bermuda Police Service HQ

PO BOX 530 HM

Hamilton HMDX

 Email: PIPA@bps.bm

Tel: (441) 295-0011 or (441) 247-1430

2. How to get in touch

The Bermuda Police Service’s Data Protection and Privacy team manages the BPS’s data protection compliance and can be contacted at PIPA@bps.bm.

3. What information do we collect about you?

The personal data we collect and use will include personal data and special category personal data (also referred to as sensitive processing).

Types of personal data we process may include information such as:

Personal details such as name, street address and email address
Sound recordings and visual images
Financial details
Intelligence material
Complaint, incident and accident details
Employment details
Sensitive information may include personal data identifying:
Racial or ethnic origin
Physical or mental health status
Biometric data

Criminal conviction and/or involvement in criminal proceedings

The BPS will use the minimum amount of relevant personal information necessary to carry out a particular activity.

4. Where do we obtain data from?

We collect personal data from a range of sources in the exercise of our functions. For example, we may collect data from our investigations, from partner agencies, via direct reporting from the public and from information that is publicly available. We may also collect personal data from our online portals.

5. Whose personal data do we handle?

To carry out our functions, we process information relating to a wide variety of individuals. 

These may include:

Victims
Witnesses
People convicted of an offence
People suspected of committing an offence
Complainants, correspondents and enquirers
Consultants and other professional experts
Commercial partners

We also process personal data that is collected during our administrative functions. For example, staff administration, recruitment, procurement and media for both existing and former members of staff. 

Information is likely to be held in various forms, including electronically in emails and in the BPS’s electronic filing systems and databases as well as in paper-based records. It may also be held in other electronic forms such as CCTV.

6. Why do we use personal data?

The BPS processes personal data for law enforcement purposes as defined in the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA). We do this to prevent, detect, and investigate crime, as well as safeguard against threats to public security. 

We achieve this through our Service Mandate that starts with The Vision Statement of the Bermuda Police Service "We see a police service working in partnership with the community for a safer Bermuda" by focusing and engaging in five priority areas: 

Tackling Crime & Antisocial Behaviour
Engaging with the Community
Making the Roads Safer
Investing in our People
Optimizing Technology
Executive Powers - Police Operations

The Police exercise their authority and powers under the Bermuda Constitution Order 1968, Human Rights Act 1981, Criminal Code 1907, the Police And Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 2006, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1972, the Road Traffic Act 1947, The Motor Car Act 1951, the Liquor Licence Act 1974, the Summary Offences Act 1926, the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987, the Bail Act 2010 and many other statutes of legislation that govern law enforcement.

Services Delivered

Patrols: uniformed patrols from each of the three main police stations (Somerset, Hamilton and Southside), as well as the roads policing unit, coast guard (Joint), police support unit, K9 unit, and the firearms unit.

Parishes: Engaged in community problem solving and partnerships.

Detectives: the Criminal Investigation Unit has the responsibility for local volume crimes; as well as specialist investigators in the areas of Serious Crime, Drugs, Financial Crime Units, and professional conduct complaints from the public.

Operational Support: to front-line patrols and detectives through the provision of: intelligence officers, forensic officers, radio and communications operators, crime prevention officers, a court liaison unit and the Bermuda Reserve Police.

Training & Development: through the work of the training, recruiting, and service delivery improvement units.

Corporate Support: through the management of information and technology, human resources, finances, public and media relations, administration and stores.

We will use personal information when the law allows us to and where it is necessary and proportionate to do so. We may also process data for non-law enforcement purposes such as when we recruit and vet potential employees, for staff administration or managing media relations.

7. How long do we keep personal data?

The BPS will retain your personal data in line with the requirements of the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA). 

8. How do we keep your data secure?

Your personal data will be processed and held securely. We have put in place appropriate physical, technical and administrative protective measures to prevent your personal information from being lost, stolen, inappropriately accessed altered, disclosed, or misused. We limit access to your personal information to those employees who need to process it when lawfully required.

9. Your rights as a data subject:

Under the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA) you have a right to request access to:
a copy of your personal information and other supplementary information, including
the purposes for which the personal information is used by the organisation.
the names of the persons to whom your personal information has been disclosed; and
the circumstances in which the personal information has been disclosed.

PIPA sets out exemptions from some of the rights and obligations in some circumstances. For example, when your data is being processed for law enforcement purposes, some of the rights listed above may be restricted. To learn more, please visit https://www.privacy.bm/national-security-exemption or https://www.privacy.bm/exemptions. Further information about these rights including exemptions can also be found within the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA) and on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s Bermuda website: www.privacy.bm

To exercise any of these rights please contact the PIPA team at PIPA@bps.bm or by mail:

BPS PIPA Office

Bermuda Police Service HQ

PO BOX 530 HM

Hamilton HMDX

 Email: PIPA@bps.bm

Tel: (441) 295-0011 or (441) 247-1430

Fees: Note that an organisation may charge a fee to deal with the applying individual’s (applicant’s) request not exceeding the prescribed maximum fee for access to the individual’s personal information. 

10. Complaints and further queries:

The BPS strives to maintain a high standard when processing personal data. We take complaints very seriously. If you have any concerns about the way that we have handled your personal data please bring it to our attention via the following means:

Email: PIPA@bps.bm

BPS PIPA Office

Bermuda Police Service HQ

PO BOX 530 HM

Hamilton HMDX

 Email: PIPA@bps.bm

Tel: (441) 295-0011 or (441) 247-1430

You are also able to submit complaints to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privcom@privacy.bm. Details on how to contact them based on the nature of your concern are available at https://www.privacy.bm/contact-us

11. Further information about this privacy notice

This privacy notice has been created to be understandable and concise. As a result, it does not include exhaustive detail about what information we hold, every organisation we share data with, how the data is collected or how long the data is kept. For further information please contact the BPS’s Data Privacy Officer via DPO@bps.bm. We keep our privacy notice under regular review. If we plan to use personal data in a different way than we have outlined then we will update our privacy notice before we start any new processing. Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted on this page. 

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