Are you allowed to carry out a police check on someone without their consent?

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

I guess you must be able to because it’s happened to me! I’m surprised that’s all!

If it is for someone applying for a job which requires a government security clearance then close relatives are also checked.

You would not want to employ a prison officer, customs officer or a police officer whose partner/father/daughter was an organised crime king pin.

Data protection legislation always allows data processing for national security/prevention of serious crime.

This has always happened. It’s not news. Nor is it against data protection.

what information has been given, to whom, and by whom?

What information do you imagine has been handed over exactly?

You seem to be making a pretty big deal over not a lot.

wurzel "If it is for someone applying for a job which requires a government security clearance then close relatives are also checked."

that's what I thought.

They won't have handed over your info willy nilly. The police are very cautious about what info they share anywhere.
I'm a social worker and we can do police checks without consent if we are doing a child protection investigation but if it doesn't meet that threshold the police wouldn't give us any info even if we asked.

My personal information is a big deal to me, yes.

I am currently in a mental health crisis and this is causing me a lot of anxiety. I apologise if it’s trivial to you, I thank you for your answers and sorry to bother you about it. I will leave it there thanks.

But no information is handed over to him.

If he didn’t pass the application process because of a dodgy relative they won’t tell him who the dodgy relative is or what they’ve done. They’ll just say sorry, you can’t be a prison officer as you haven’t passed vetting.

Still not sure why you need to be police checked or even if it's been done.

I assume your information isn't given to your relatives, but is just checked by their potential future employer?

Sorry but what are you talking about?

Well I apologise for being flippant, but it really is standard procedure, nothing to worry about.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

It's a criminal records check.

The Data Protection Act 2018 allows for this to happen under the auspices of law enforcement - which is a lawful basis for processing under the GDPR.

The ICO's website has good information if you have further questions.

It's in case someone could blackmail them, through you.

I find it bizarre that such a level of personal information is just allowed to be handed over like that without our permission.
The information is presumably being given to the Police not Al Capone and few mobsters. I don't imagine they will be 'sending the boys round'.

What information was handed over? More than is on the electoral roll (and therefore already public)?

We had to all sign permissions for the armed forces checks including elder sister. Security services checks might be done without permission for obvious reasons. Ordinary dbs checks you have to sign

I find it bizarre that such a level of personal information is just allowed to be handed over like that without our permission

If it's only your name & date of birth it's not really a huge level of information. As pp said checks like this are standard for jobs in the police/prison services.

Seems a bit of a fuss over nothing.

I’m surprised for a prison check. But the security services do this for certain types of clearance. It’s not the same as a DBS check.

I'm not prepared to give out details as ItS too outing, but. I know a Police officer who's cousin commited a serious crime.
It hasnt stopped them. However they were already a member of the police force before this crime was commited. Maybe that made difference or perhaps they don't stretch as far as cousins.

On another note I'm not sure its entirely fair to hold crimes against family members. Little Johnny's dad murders some one. Yes he's a cunt but that's hardly Johnnys fault is it.
Why should he automAtically be prevented from joining the police because of the sins of his father.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider I don't think it's that kind of check. It's to see if any of the persons relatives are terrorists or considered a major security check for any reason. Incase the person was joining the police in order to pass information on (or could be coerced into doing so)

I think it’s a security check.

Security risk *

I think if trying to be police officer etc, they maybe don't ask for permission as it would potentially give relatives a veto on X applying for the job, this is not to check whether someone's brother was a shoplifter when age 14 but if their brother was on a suspected extreme group watch list it will perhaps make a difference
you can't be given the sort of check for working with children vulnerable etc as you have to sign the form

I would just ask said relative what it is for

Why should he automAtically be prevented from joining the police because of the sins of his father.

It doesn’t. But if his dad is Tony Soprano then that’s different.