Act/s of terrorism in your force area ..

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Our Ref: FOI 393-11

E-mail: [Tayside Police request email] for all correspondence
relating to FOI requests

Dear Mr McGartland

I write to acknowledge receipt of your request for information under the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, received today.

Your request is now currently being processed by this department and under
the terms of this Act, there are 20 working days allowed to respond to you
following the date of receipt of your request. Please note, however, that
there may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information requested. You will be advised of this should a payment
be required and no information will be supplied prior to receipt of the
fee.

If you require any further information or assistance, please do not
hesitate to contact myself on 01382 596169.

Regards,

Wendy Snedden
Freedom of Information Officer
Crime & Intelligence Division
Tayside Police
Tel: 01382 596169
Fax: 01382 596048
Email: [1][Tayside Police request email]

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This communication is intended for the person(s) or organisation named and
may be in nature, legally priviliged and protected in law.

If you are not the intended recipient please advise us immediately and do
not disclose, copy or distribute the contents to any other person.

Failure to comply with these instructions may constitute a criminal
offence. You should be aware that all Tayside Police email communications
may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
act 2002.

References

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1. mailto:[Tayside Police request email]

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Our Ref: FOI 393-11

E-Mail: [Tayside Police request email] for all correspondence
relating to FOI requests

Dear Mr McGartland

I refer to your request of 2 August 2011 for information under the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which, for the avoidance of doubt, I
reproduce below.

Q1 Please detail all/any act(s) of terrorism that have been carried out
in your Force area by a terrorist organisation and or person(s) acting on
behalf of such an organisation(s) over the period of the last 15 years.

Q2 Please supply total cost(s) to the taxpayer of each/every case
relating to Q1 above.

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Section 1) creates a
general right of access to information held by Scottish public
authorities. Where a public authority refuses a request for information
by relying upon exemptions, Section 16 of the Act requires that the public
authority must provide the applicant with a notice stating that it holds
the information, claiming the information is exempt information,
specifying the exemption in question, and stating (if not otherwise
apparent) why the exemption applies.

If, however, a Scottish public authority considers that to reveal whether
the information exists or is held by it, would be contrary to the public
interest, it may (whether or not the information does exist and is held by
it) give the applicant a notice in terms of Section 18 of the Act in which
it neither confirms nor denies that the information is held.

Accordingly, in terms of Section 18 of the above Act, Tayside Police can
neither confirm nor deny that it holds the information you have
requested. If the information was held, it would be considered exempt
from disclosure by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 31(1) (Exempt Information - National Security and Defence)

Section 34(1)(a)&(b) (Exempt Information - Investigations)

Section 35(1)(a)&(b) (Exempt Information - Law Enforcement)

Section 39(1) (Exempt Information - Health, Safety and the Environment)

This should not be taken to mean that the information you have requested
exists or does not exist.

Although there is no requirement in Section 18 to articulate the public
interest considerations the following information is included to assist
your understanding of the decision to issue a refusal notice under Section
18 of the Act.

Requests for information which relate to, or which may impact upon
national security or ongoing police operations, investigations and
prosecutions, require to be carefully considered. Whilst it is accepted
that there is a public interest in the transparency of policing operations
and, in this case, providing assurance that the police service are
appropriately and effectively engaging with the threat posed by terrorist
attack, there is also a very strong public interest in safeguarding both
national security and the integrity of police investigations and
operations in this highly sensitive area of terrorism prevention.

To confirm or deny that this level of criminal activity has or has not
occurred in any specific Force area, would enable those engaged in
criminal or terrorist activity to identify the focus of policing activity
in this area across the UK.

For example, to state that no information is held in one Force area and
then to refuse to provide information held in another through the use of
exemptions, this would itself provide acknowledgment that terrorist
activity had been recorded within that second location.

Clearly, the level of terrorist activity, even at Force level, would be
relatively low, therefore to provide information at this low level would
have the likelihood of identifying location-specific operations, enabling
individuals to become aware of whether or not their activities have been
detected, and ultimately compromising police tactics, operations and
future prosecutions.

Any information identifying the focus of anti-terror policing activity
could be used to the advantage of terrorists or criminal organisations.
Information that undermines the operational integrity of these activities
will adversely affect public safety, and have a negative impact on both
national security and law enforcement.

As stated above, this explanation should not be taken as indicative or
conclusive evidence that the information you have requested exists or does
not exist.

For your assistance, information relating to counter-terrorism is publicly
available on the Home Office website via the following link:

[1]http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/counter-ter...

COSTS

Notwithstanding my response above, I can advise you that within Tayside
Police, costs associated with criminal investigations of any type are not
specifically recorded on a `per investigation' basis. Costs associated
with police operations or criminal investigations are typically allocated
to the appropriate divisional budget, depending on the geographic location
of the incident locus - namely Central, Eastern or Western Division.

It is extremely rare for a specific budget code to be created to capture
the costs associated with a specific police operation or investigation.
Even on the very few occasions where this process has been set up, it is
inevitable that enquiries will have taken place before the creation of the
code and the associated costs will have therefore been allocated to a
centralised budget. In addition, even with a specific code, due to
different accounting procedures for different types of cost, some costs
would still be allocated to a centralised budget and therefore the true
costs of a specific operation or investigation would not be identifiable.

Further details on this subject can be found on the Disclosure Log section
of the Tayside Police website (see FOI 371-11), which can be accessed via
the following link:

[2]http://www.tayside.police.uk/Default.asp...

I trust the enclosed information will be of assistance to you. However,
if you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, you are entitled, in the first instance, to request a review of the
decision made by the Force. Should you wish to request such a review,
please write to me within 40 days of receiving this communication. I will
arrange for a senior officer, who has not been involved in the decision
making process, to conduct a review as required by the Act. If, after
having been informed of the review panel's decision, you are still not
satisfied, you are then entitled to apply to the Scottish Information
Commissioner for a decision. You have 6 months from the date of the
review response in which to do so. The contact details for Mr Dunion, the
Scottish Information Commissioner are Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16
9DS, telephone 01334 464610.

Regards,

Wendy Snedden
Freedom of Information Officer
Crime & Intelligence Division
Tayside Police
Tel: 01382 596169
Fax: 01382 596048
Email: [3][Tayside Police request email]

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

This communication is intended for the person(s) or organisation named and
may be in nature, legally privileged and protected in law.

If you are not the intended recipient please advise us immediately and do
not disclose, copy or distribute the contents to any other person.

Failure to comply with these instructions may constitute a criminal
offence. You should be aware that all Tayside Police email communications
may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
act 2002.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/counter-ter...
2. http://www.tayside.police.uk/Default.asp...
3. mailto:[Tayside Police request email]