Police off the hook for wrong number bug

A police officer in Malmö has avoided both prosecution and a disciplinary hearing by the Disciplinary Board, after wiretapping the wrong telephone number and listening in to private telephone conversations over the course of a number of hours.

Published: 12 December 2009 10:55 CET

The officer had signed the wiretap clearance without checking that the details were correct.

“Due to an error in a police memo the wrong telephone number was bugged for several hours on November 7th 2008,” the Police Authority in Skåne explains in a written decision.

The prosecutor determined that no crime had been committed, and Skåne police decided that they are satisfied for the police officer’s superiors to have a conversation with the officer explaining the importance of quality controlling the details in a request concerning coercive powers.

“There are no grounds for taking disciplinary action,” according to the decision.

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