A Paris policewoman was accused of passing on personal information about other police officers to a man on the French S-file terror watchlist.
The incident that sparked the accusations occurred in February of last year when the man, who had been linked to the radical Islamist movement, had been summoned for a hearing regarding a charge of violence towards a minor.
During the interrogation, he told the officer that he knew how many children she had, her name, and that both she and her husband were practising Catholics. The officer’s husband is also a police officer working in the 14th district of Paris, broadcaster BFMTV reports.
When questioned further, the man later admitted he had been given the information about the officer and her husband from his female neighbour, who also is a police officer.
“During this hearing, this gentleman told me that he had obtained personal information about my husband, my children, and myself, including that he knew my husband’s first name and that we were practising Catholic police officers,” the officer wrote in a report.
Just days ago, a group of 20 officials expressed concern to their superiors, saying the husband of the officer was worried for his and his family’s safety along with that of the officers he worked with.
Local law enforcement officials are also uneasy that personal information may have been passed on to radical jihadist networks.
The Paris police prefecture said that following an investigation, they determined the officer who allegedly shared the information was not at fault. However, she was issued with an official warning and transferred.
There have been several cases in recent years of French police showing sympathies with radical Islamic extremists. In 2018, a 20-year-old female officer, described by colleagues as radicalised, was arrested after being accused of stealing firearms.
A year earlier, a man on the S-file terror watch list was able to become a police officer while still officially under surveillance by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.