Arrangements with security companies

Dear Philip Collins

REFERENCE NO: 2010/001

Thank you for your request for information concerning Dorset Police and
First Step and First Stop Security Ltd's. This request will be dealt
with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act,
subject to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to
a third party. In some circumstances Dorset Police may be unable to
achieve this deadline. If this occurs you will be informed, given a
revised time-scale and the reasons for the delay at the earliest
opportunity.

If you need to contact us about your request I would be grateful if you
use the above address or other contact details and quote the reference
number.

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

Yours sincerely

Keith Campbell
Freedom of Information Manager
Professional Standards Department
Dorset Police Headquarters
Winfrith, Dorchester. DT2 8DZ.

Tel. 01305 223590
Fax.01305 223771
email [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Philip Collins,

REFERENCE NO: 2010- 001

I write in connection with your request for information dated 31^st
December 2009 and received on the 4^th January 2010 concerning First Stop
and First Step Security.

Please provide details including all documentation of any and all,
contractual or non-contractual or other arrangements between Dorset Police
and/or any of its subsidiaries and First Step Security Limited and/or any
derivation thereof and also First Stop Security and/or any derivation
thereof.

Your request for information has now been considered and it is not
possible to meet your requirements in full. Instead I enclose a partial
response to your request for information.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) requires
Dorset Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the
information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c)
states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption
applies.

After making enquiries on this matter, I can answer as follows.

I have been unable to locate any Dorset Police business involvement with
First Step Security Limited. Since this company seems to provide parking
enforcement services I would expect that staff, in particular patrol
officers, would have occasional dealings with them.

Dorset Police has no direct business dealings with First Stop Security
Limited (FSS) either. However, we will carry out regulation and oversight
activities in relation to their licensed door staff, and such staff are
likely to have dealings with police on a regular basis.

We have however been involved with local partners, Bournemouth Borough
Council and the Home Office in work to improve the late night drinking
environment in the Bournemouth area. You can find some details of this
work in the `Crime' paragraph of the page accessed through the following
link. It appears that FSS provides taxi marshalling and door staff as part
of this programme but they are retained for this purpose by Bournemouth
Townwatch. This is an independent private body funded by the licensing
businesses in Bournemouth. I attach a link to their website below.

[1]http://www.gos.gov.uk/facts/factgosw/bou...

[2]http://www.bournemouthtownwatch.co.uk/

We have provided payments to FSS on the behalf of Townwatch, as a support
service to our partners in relation to the services provided.

I am unable to provide any details of these payments since it was not
Dorset Police money and some, if not all, was private funds. As such, in
this case the exemption provided by Section 41 of the Freedom of
Information Act - Information provided in confidence, applies.

Payments to a private firm in remuneration for services provided to a
private body have an intrinsic quality of confidence. Dorset Police holds
this information because it has supported a private body and other public
authority partners in providing a public benefit. It has no implied or
direct consent to do anything other than to treat the information it holds
as being held in confidence. You should consider this as refusal notice
under the Act for this part of your request.

Please contact me if you would like to discuss any aspect of this
response. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your
interest in Dorset Police.

Dorset Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your
case under its review procedure. If you decide to request such a review
you should address your request to the Head of the Professional Standards
Department, Dorset Police Headquarters, Winfrith, Dorchester, Dorset DT2
8DZ, or email [3][Dorset Police request email] . You have a further right to
ask the Information Commissioners Office to decide whether or not your
request has been appropriately dealt with, but they will not consider your
complaint until the Dorset Police Review Procedure has been concluded.

Yours sincerely

Keith Campbell

Freedom of Information Manager

Professional Standards Department

Dorset Police Headquarters

Winfrith, Dorchester. DT2 8DZ.

Tel. 01305 223590

Fax.01305 223771

email [4][email address]

show quoted sections

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scanned by MailMarshal - Marshal8e6's comprehensive email content security
solution. Download a free evaluation of MailMarshal at [6]www.marshal.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gos.gov.uk/facts/factgosw/bou...
2. http://www.bournemouthtownwatch.co.uk/
3. mailto:[Dorset Police request email]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.dorset.police.uk/
6. http://www.marshal.com/