Shredded police documents used as parade confetti

Mounted police lead a policeman balloon down Central Park West in the 86th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday, Nov 22, 2012 in New York City. / AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano

MINEOLA, N.Y. Some very private information was unknowingly cast to the winds during one of New York City's most public events: A ticker-tape parade.

CBS Station WCBS writes that the Nassau County Police Department is looking into reports that shredded documents from its offices ended up as confetti at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

24 Photos

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2012

23 Photos

Macy's prepares floats for Thanksgiving Day parade

Police said the documents included sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers of personnel and police incident reports.

The department issued a statement saying it has launched an investigation and will be reviewing procedures for disposing of sensitive documents.

The shreds were not "official" parade confetti. Macy's said it only provides bits of paper in colorful dot form.

WCBS reports this is not the first time that complaints have arisen over the use of shredded sensitive documents as confetti.

During the New York Giants Super Bowl Parade in February, some of the "confetti" dropped from office buildings was found to be paper containing personal information and records, including Social Security numbers and medical records. Some papers included information about a 54-year-old woman's mammogram, all with specific details.

[tmittelstaed]

It was shredded with old-style shredders that produce the long strips not the new style that produce little bits of paper. The same shredders were used in the US Embassey in Iran and after the 79 revolution the Iranians carefully pieced together all of the strips and gained a tresure trove of sensitive spy information that way. That ended up pretty much destroying the covert network the US had built in Iran and it has had reprecussions to this day.