A police officer breached privacy laws last December by displaying a reporter’s identity card in front of a camera broadcasting live, Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog said after an investigation.

The Privacy Commissioner said in an investigation report on Tuesday that the officer had used the reporter’s personal data without consent, and the action was not consistent with or directly related to the purpose of verifying the reporter’s identity.

The incident happened at Tai Po Mega Mall on Dec. 26, when the officer demanded to see the ID card and press credentials of a Stand News journalist during a protest. The officer then held up the card to a television camera for around 40 seconds.

By so doing, the officer had breached a data protection principle of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, the report concluded.

In the report, the Privacy Commissioner also urged the police to revise their Force Procedures Manual to include two data protection principles under the law that were missing from the operational guidelines. The police should “devise clear policies and guidelines” to protect the privacy of individuals being searched.

The police acknowledged in a statement that there was a “shortcoming” in the Tai Po incident. They had rebuked the officer involved and would carry out a disciplinary review. The police accepted the Privacy Commissioner’s report and would follow up on its recommendations, a spokesperson said.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said that the incident was tantamount to “doxxing” and demanded that the police apologize to the Stand News reporter. It was not an isolated case and instead reflected a widespread issue of police officers acting unlawfully and hindering the work of journalists, the association added.

Ronson Chan, the affected reporter, said that the investigation report was like a “Christmas present” and floated the possibility of lodging a civil claim against the police.

“It seems like the present system doesn’t have any way of proving that the police mistreated [journalists]. This time, I am finally vindicated after waiting for a year,” Chan said.

He also criticized the police for not doing enough in response to the report, because their officers were “knowingly breaking the law.”

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