Meritxell Borràs defends the right to data protection in police actions

The director of the Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT), Meritxell Borràs, appeared this Friday before the Police Model Study Commission, in the Parliament of Catalonia, to address the data protection implications in relation to the actions police officers. In his speech, Borràs insisted that "data protection regulations must be applied regardless of the police model chosen", because "in any case, the model must respect people's rights".

He added that the fundamental mission of police forces is to guarantee all people the conditions so that they can exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms, among which is also the fundamental right to data protection. In this sense, he recalled that it is "a necessary right so that other rights can be effective, and especially to avoid unjustified discrimination". Borràs has also referred to the specific organic law regarding the processing of personal data by the police and criminal justice sector.