Red River College officials say they are reviewing privacy procedures after a student found about 1,000 pages of campus security reports — containing people's names, addresses and other private information — in a recycling bin.

The improperly discarded documents, which were found on Nov. 18, included details about incidents involving students, staff and the public that occurred at the college's downtown Winnipeg campus during security shifts.

College president Stephanie Forsyth said those documents are supposed to be shredded immediately, but it appears a janitor had placed the incident reports in the recycling by mistake.

"We have reviewed the situation carefully — trying to figure out, you know, how this occurred and why — because the policies and procedures are very clear," Forsyth told CBC News on Sunday.

"Obviously there was some human error at play here."

In some cases, the documents included the names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and even photographs of people at the college.

The college has gone over its document-disposal policy with staff to ensure it does not happen again, Forsyth said.

"It's serious to us. I'm taking it extremely seriously," she said.

Red River College has referred the incident to the provincial ombudsman's office.