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The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reprimanded the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and issued an enforcement notice after finding that officers and staff uploaded personal information to an unapproved third-party retail-crime intelligence platform without the required legal basis, risk assessment or oversight. The ICO announced the action on 14 October 2026; its enforcement record dates the combined action to 23 September 2026.
Why the ICO acted
The MPS used the platform from March 2023 to September 2024 to help identify suspected shoplifters. The force had not formally approved the service for processing personal information. The ICO found that the MPS failed to maintain adequate controls ensuring that personnel used only approved third-party technologies.
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In the regulator’s assessment, some sharing was not necessary for law-enforcement purposes and therefore lacked a lawful basis under the Data Protection Act 2018. The action concerns infringements framed under sections 35(1), 40 and 64(1), covering lawful processing, appropriate safeguards and data-protection impact assessments in this law-enforcement context.
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About 500 accounts were created on the service, of which 375 were actively used for policing. Between January and September 2024, personnel uploaded information relating to 179 people while trying to identify suspected shoplifters. Three of the affected people were under 18.
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The records included names and dates of birth. In a small number of cases, they also included home addresses. The figures describe people whose information was uploaded, not necessarily confirmed shoplifters or people who were charged with an offence.
What controls were missing
No formal approval for the technology
The MPS had not formally authorised the platform before it was used. That gap meant the service entered operational use without the organisation’s normal third-party approval controls.
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No data-protection impact assessment before high-risk processing
The ICO found that the MPS had not completed a data-protection impact assessment before processing this type of information. A DPIA is intended to identify and reduce risks before a system handles personal data at scale or in a way that could significantly affect people.
Insufficient technical and organisational measures
The regulator also identified failures to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures. Those measures include governance, access controls, staff responsibilities, contractual protections, monitoring and checks that safeguards continue to work in practice.
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Which platform was involved?
The primary ICO materials do not name the vendor. They describe it as an unapproved third-party retail-crime intelligence-sharing platform. Claims that identify a particular supplier go beyond the named regulatory record.
What happened after the MPS discovered the issue
The MPS suspended use of the platform in September 2024. It reintroduced the service in January 2026 after adding stronger governance arrangements, staff training, formal contractual controls and a completed data-protection impact assessment.
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Those changes did not end the regulatory concern. The ICO said action was still necessary because the case raised wider questions about how the MPS governs third-party technologies, rather than only whether this individual platform had later been brought under control.
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The notice requires the MPS to make broader, continuing improvements rather than simply close this one incident. The required work includes:
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- strengthening the process for identifying, assessing and approving third-party services that process personal information;
- reviewing existing controls and improving governance arrangements;
- increasing staff awareness of data-protection responsibilities;
- regularly testing whether safeguards operate effectively; and
- providing the ICO with periodic updates on implementation.
The notice therefore combines remedial governance work with continuing oversight. A reprimand is a formal regulatory action, while the enforcement notice imposes specific steps the organisation must take.
Why the case matters beyond the Met
Police forces routinely handle information that can affect people’s employment, reputation, safety and legal position. Retail-crime systems can appear operationally useful, but convenience does not remove the need to establish a lawful purpose, assess risks and control access before deployment.
David Doodson, the ICO’s Head of Investigations, said police forces hold large volumes of sensitive personal information and must have robust safeguards. He warned that innovation cannot outpace data-protection responsibilities and said organisations must assess risks, put safeguards in place and ensure effective oversight before introducing new systems or platforms.
The ICO said the action should send a message across policing and other sectors: new technology used to process people’s information must be lawful, transparent and governed from the outset. For public bodies, that means an informal operational need is not a substitute for procurement approval, a documented legal basis, a DPIA where required, contractual controls and staff accountability.
Key dates and figures
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| ICO announcement | 14 October 2026 |
| Enforcement-record date | 23 September 2026 |
| Platform use | March 2023 to September 2024 |
| Uploads covered by the ICO findings | January to September 2024 |
| Accounts created | About 500 |
| Accounts actively used for policing | 375 |
| People whose information was uploaded | 179 |
| Affected people under 18 | 3 |
| Use suspended | September 2024 |
| Use reintroduced | January 2026, after additional controls and training |
What is established—and what is not
The ICO’s findings establish a governance and lawful-processing failure involving information about 179 people, including three minors. They do not identify the platform vendor in the primary record, and the published figures do not establish that every person listed was a shoplifter or that all records contained addresses. The case is about the MPS’s handling of personal information and its oversight of third-party technology.
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