Download original attachment
(Word document)
This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Taser Use Reports'.

HMP Britain

Freedom of Information Section

Nottinghamshire Police

Telephone:- 0115 9672507

Facsimile:- 0115 9672896

E-mail: [email address]

[FOI #18562 email]

16th February 2010

Dear HMP Britain

Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Reference No: FOI09-2525

I write in connection with your request for information dated 26th September 2009, which was received by Nottinghamshire Police on 28th September 2009, and acknowledged by e-mail on 28th September 2009. I note you seek access to the following information:-

I have read the ACPO Ltd's document called 'ACPO taser operational

guidance'. Appendix H contains a sheet stating 'THIS FORM MUST BE

COMPLETED ON EACH OCCASION WHERE THE TASER IS USED'. It also states

a copy must be sent to 'Force Liason Officer [of ACPO Ltd]' for

onward transmission to 'Police Use of Firearms Secretariat' at ACPO

Ltd.

Please send me a copy of all 'Appendix H' sheets that have been

completed where the taser was discharged.

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within Nottinghamshire Police to locate information relevant to your request.

Decision

Please see enclosed response

Complaints Rights

Your attention is drawn to the enclosed review procedure, which details your right of complaint.

Copyright

Nottinghamshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under Sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) to release the enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of the attached information should be addressed to the Force Solicitor, Nottinghamshire Police, Force Headquarters, Sherwood Lodge, Arnold, Nottinghamshire, NG5 8PP.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Nottinghamshire Police.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or contact the Freedom of Information Officer on telephone number 0115 9672507 or e-mail [email address] quoting the above reference number.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Officer

Enc

RESPONSE

Under S 1 (1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), I can confirm that Nottinghamshire Police does hold the information you have requested.

I have read the ACPO Ltd's document called 'ACPO taser operational

guidance'. Appendix H contains a sheet stating 'THIS FORM MUST BE

COMPLETED ON EACH OCCASION WHERE THE TASER IS USED'. It also states

a copy must be sent to 'Force Liason Officer [of ACPO Ltd]' for

onward transmission to 'Police Use of Firearms Secretariat' at ACPO

Ltd.

Please send me a copy of all 'Appendix H' sheets that have been completed where the taser was discharged.

I am unable to disclose the documents requested, under exemptions Section 40 Personal Information, Section 38 Health and Safety, Section 30 Investigation Proceedings Conducted by public authorities and Section 31 Law Enforcement.

Considerations have been made to redact information from these forms, however due to the level of redaction required it would not serve any purpose or understanding in this format.

To make a disclosure in the format requested could lead to the identification of an individual who may have been involved in an incident where there has been a discharge of a taser, this information could be pieced together through local knowledge or any media coverage.

This could also identify the officers that have been involved in the incident.

If any identification was made about any of the individuals this could compromise both the person who the taser was discharged on and the officer's involved health and safety. There is a duty to protect the mental health and well being of and individual who may have suffered effects from the actual incident in question.

Other factors to consider is that should an investigation being conducted in relation to a complaint by an individual who has been tasered and the investigation conducted by the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) this could be compromised until there has been a conclusion reached. Officers may also be conducting a criminal investigation where the use of a taser was necessary to apprehend an alleged offender and therefore this could still be under investigation.

Any other disclosure of this document would also compromise future law enforcement, as specific details are included with these forms they could give information about how the Police operate in certain situations and the need to use tasers this could compromise tactical information, which could assist criminals in knowing how the police operate.

Therefore its not in the publics interests to disclose the information contained in these documents.

This letter constitutes a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 with Section 40, Section 38, Section 30 and Section 31 of the Act being applied.

40. - (1) Any information to which a request for information relates is exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject.

(2) Any information to which a request for information relates is also exempt information if -

  1. it constitutes personal data which do not fall within subsection (1), and

  1. either the first or second condition below is satisfied

(3) The first condition is -

  1. in a case where the information falls within any of the paragraphs a) to d) of the definition of “data” in section 1 (1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene -

    1. any of the data protection principles, or

    1. section 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress), and

  1. in any other case, that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene any of the data protection principles if the exemptions in section 33A (1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (which relate to manual data held by the public authorities) were disregarded.

(4) The second condition is that by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section 7 (1) c) of that Act (data subject's right of access to personal data).

(5) The duty to confirm or deny -

  1. does not arise in relation to information which is (or if it were held by the public authority would be) exempt information by virtue of subsection (1), and

  1. does not arise in relation to other information if or to the extent that either -

    1. the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation or denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1 (1) a) would (apart from this Act) contravene any of the data protection principles or section 10 of the Data Protection Act 1998 or would do so if the exemptions in section 33A (1) of that Act were disregarded, or

    1. by virtue of any provision of part IV of the Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section 7 (1) a) of that Act (data subject's right to be informed whether personal data being processed).

(6) In determining for the purposes of this section whether anything done before 24th October 2007 would contravene any of the data protection principles, the exemptions in Part III of Schedule 8 to the Data Protection Act 1998 shall be disregarded.

(7) In this section -

“the data protection principles” means the principles set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998, as read subject to Part II of that Schedule and section 27 (1) of that Act;

“data subject” has the same meaning as in section 1 (1) of that Act;

“personal data” has the same meaning as in section 1 (1) of that Act.

38. - (1) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to -

  1. endanger the physical or mental health of any individual, or

  1. endanger the safety of any individual

(2) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1 (1) a) would, or would be likely to, have either of the effects mentioned in subsection (1).

30. - (1) Information held by a public authority is exempt information if it has at any time been held by the authority for the purposes of -

  1. any investigation which the public authority has a duty to conduct with a view to it being ascertained -

    1. whether a person should be charged with an offence, or

    1. whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it

  1. any investigation which is conducted by the authority and in the circumstances may lead to a decision by the authority to institute criminal proceedings which the authority has power to conduct, or

  1. any criminal proceedings which the authority has power to conduct

(2) Information held by a public authority is exempt information if -

  1. it was obtained or recorded by the authority for the purposes of its functions relating to -

    1. investigations falling within subsection (1) a) or b)

    1. criminal proceedings which the authority has power to conduct

    1. investigations (other than investigations falling within subsection (1) a) or b) which are conducted by the authority for any of the purposes specified in section 31 (2) and either by virtue of Her Majesty's prerogative or by virtue of powers conferred by or under any enactment, or

    1. civil proceedings which are brought by or on behalf of the authority and arise out of such investigations, and

  1. it relates to the obtaining of information from confidential sources

(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise in relation to information which is (or if it were held by the public authority would be) exempt information by virtue of subsection (1) or (2).

(4) In relation to the institution or conduct of criminal proceedings or the power to conduct them, references in subsection (1) b) or c) and subsection (2) a) to the public authority include references -

  1. to any officer of the authority

  1. in the case of a government department other than a Northern Ireland department, to the Minister of the Crown in charge of the department, and

  1. in the case of a Northern Ireland department, to the Northern Ireland Minister in charge of the department.

(5) In this section -

“criminal proceedings” includes -

  1. proceedings before a court-martial constituted under the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 or the Naval Discipline Act 1957 or a disciplinary court constituted under section 52G of the Act of 1957,

  1. proceedings on dealing summarily with a charge under the Army Act 1955 or the Air Force Act 1955 or on summary trial under the Naval Discipline Act 1957,

  1. proceedings before a court established by section 83ZA of the Army Act 1955, section 83ZA of the Air Force Act 1955 or section 52FF of the Naval Discipline Act 1957 (summary appeal courts)

  1. proceedings before the Courts-Martial Appeal Court, and

  1. proceedings before a Standing Civilian Court

“offence'” includes any offence under the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 or the Naval Discipline Act 1957.

(6) In the application of this section to Scotland -

  1. in subsection (1) b), for the words from “a decision” to the end there is substituted “a decision by the authority to make a report to the procurator fiscal for the purpose of enabling him to determine whether criminal proceedings should be instituted”

  1. in subsections (1) c) and (2) a) ii) for “which the authority has power to conduct” there is substituted “which have been instituted in consequence of a report made by the authority to the procurator fiscal”, and

  1. for any reference to a person being charged with an offence there is substituted a reference to the person being prosecuted for the offence.

31. - (1) Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30 is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice -

  1. the prevention or detection of crime

  1. the apprehension or prosecution of offenders

  1. the administration of justice

  1. the assessment or collection of any tax or duty or of any imposition of a similar nature

  1. the operation of the immigration controls

  1. the maintenance of security and good order in prisons or in other institutions where persons are lawfully detained

  1. the exercise by any public authority of its functions for any of the purposes specified in subsection (2)

  1. any civil proceedings which are brought by or on behalf of a public authority and arise out of an investigation conducted, for any of the purposes specified in subsection (2), by or on behalf of the authority by virtue of Her Majesty's prerogative or by virtue of powers conferred by or under an enactment, or

  1. any inquiry held under the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiries (Scotland) Act 1976 to the extent that the inquiry rises out of an investigation conducted, for any of the purposes specified in subsection 2), by or on behalf of the authority by virtue of Her Majesty's prerogative or by virtue of powers conferred by or under an enactment.

(2) The purposes referred to in subsection (1) g) to I) are -

  1. the purpose of ascertaining whether any person has failed to comply with the law

  1. the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct which is improper

  1. the purpose of ascertaining whether circumstances which would justify regulatory action in pursuance of any enactment exist or may arise

  1. the purpose of ascertaining a person's fitness or competence in relation to the management of bodies corporate or in relation to any profession or other activity which he is, or seeks to become, authorised to carry on

  1. the purpose of ascertaining the cause of an accident

  1. the purpose of protecting charities against misconduct or mismanagement (whether by trustees or other persons) in their administration

  1. the purpose of protecting the property of charities from loss or misapplication

  1. the purpose of recovering the property of charities

  1. the purpose of securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, and

  1. the purpose of protecting persons other than persons at work against risk to health or safety arising out of or in connection with the actions of persons at work.

(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1 (1) a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1).