Surrey and Sussex police unlawfully recorded phone calls through app, watchdog finds

Information Commissioner’s Office reprimands forces as app was originally intended for hostage negotiators

Two police forces have been reprimanded by Britain’s data watchdog after officers unlawfully recorded more than 200,000 phone conversations using an app originally intended for hostage negotiators.

The automatic recordings, made over several years, included “highly sensitive” conversations with victims, witnesses and perpetrators of suspected crimes, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)