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By Chris Brown

Former guard at police holding facility accused of accessing private info: MHPS

Jul 14, 2023 | 2:39 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A former guard at the Medicine Hat Police Service holding facility is alleged to have used a work computer and police databases to access private information.

Police believe the accused conducted over 100 searches between 2022 and 2023 while an employee of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.

The searches provided access to information that was not needed for a valid work-related purpose.

Teagan Austin, 20 years old from Medicine Hat, has been charged with one count of fraudulent use of a computer.

Police say they notified the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of the breaches and do not have any reason to suspect the information was shared for any financial gain.

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Anyone concerned their information may have been accessed can contact MHPS by email at inquiries@mhps.ca

Police say that when the breach was discovered an investigation was immediately launched and the guard’s access to the MHPS facility and information were removed.

“The MHPS does not take it for granted that we are entrusted with private and often very sensitive information about the people we serve. This is a responsibility we take very seriously, and it is completely unacceptable for any officer or civilian employee to access private information without a valid reason,” says MHPS chief Alan Murphy in a release.

The law and MHPS policies only permit employees to access private information for police business. Database searches and network activity are tracked with certain activities being flagged automatically for review. All employees and contractors within MHPS who require computer systems access are also required to pass enhanced security checks before getting access to databases with private information.

NOTE: This story has been updated to correct that the accused worked at the MHPS holding facility, not the Medicine Hat Remand Centre as first reported.