Criminal Convictions of Serving Officers

November 12, 2008

Dear Lord McDowall,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated November 9, 2008 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on November 10, 2008. I note you seek access to the following information:

Number of serving officers convicted of a number of offences

This request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A response should be sent to you within 20 working days. The Freedom of Information team will advise you in writing if there are any delays in responding to your request and will keep you advised of progress.

In the event where the cost of complying with the request would exceed the "appropriate level", which is fixed at £450, as stated in the Freedom of Information Regulations 2004, it is the policy of the PSNI to close the request. You will however be notified of this decision and given an opportunity to refine and resubmit the request.

If your request requires either full or partial transference to another public authority in order to answer your query, again, you will be notified.
If you have any queries regarding your request please write or contact the Freedom of Information Team on 028 9070 0164. Please remember to quote the reference number listed above in any future communications with the Freedom of Information Team.

If you are dissatisfied in any way with the handling of your request, you have the right to request a review.You should do this as soon as possible, or in any case within two months of the date of issue of this letter.In the event that you require a review to be undertaken, you can do so by writing to the Head of Freedom of Information, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road, Belfast, BT5 6LE or by emailing [email address].

If following an internal review, carried out by an independent decision maker, you were to remain dissatisfied in any way with the handling of the request you may make a complaint,under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act, to the Information Commissioner's Office and ask that they investigate whether the PSNI has complied with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. You can write to the Information Commissioner at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. In most circumstances the Information Commissioner will not investigate a complaint unless an internal review procedure has been carried out, however the Commissioner has the option to investigate the matter at his discretion.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Gordon Reid
A/Head of Freedom of Information

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F-2008-05027

November 13, 2008

Dear Lord McDowall,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated November 9,
2008 which was received by the The Police Service of Northern Ireland on
November 10, 2008. I note you seek access to the following information:

Number of serving officers convicted of a number of offences

To enable the Police Service of Northern Ireland to meet your request
could you please provide further clarification on the following .

The PSNI does not hold a data base to answer your request. The only way
the requested information could be obtained would be to run a Criminal
Record check of every serving police officer. This would be cost
prohibitive as this operation would exceed the "appropriate cost" of £450
as set by the Secretary of State.

It may be possible, within the cost, to retrieve data on the number of
serving police officers who have been convicted of the 5 categories as
outlined in the request, where details have been reported to the
Professional Standards Department. A time specific period would
be required e.g. since inception of PSNI in 2001or the last 5 calendar
years etc. The total number of officers convicted in each rank can also be
retrieved. The release of any information will be subject to any
exemptions that may apply.

You should be aware that the 20 day legislative time limit dictated by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been stopped until we receive
clarification of your request.

Please send clarification of your request by writing to Freedom of
Information Team, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5 6LE or by
email to [email address]. Alternatively, if you wish to discuss
your request or have any additional queries you can contact me on 028 9070
0164.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Gordon Reid

A/Head of Freedom of Information

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Dear Lord McDowall,

I note your comments but the information you require is not

held centrally, the information is held but to retrieve it

would greatly exceed the "appropriate limit" as this would

necessitate checking files on every serving officer and

carrying out a criminal record check on each one.

I have informed you what information we may be in a position

to supply within the cost restraints, this is details on the

number of officers who have been convicted of the offences you

have listed and who have been referred to the Professional

Standards Department. If you wish to receive this information

please specify a specific time frame, such as the last 5 callender

years for example. The release of any of this information may be

subject to any exemptions which may be aplicable.

If you not wish this information please let me know what you would

prefer.

You should be aware that the 20 day legislative time limit dictated
by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been stopped until we
receive clarification of your request.

Please send clarification of your request by writing to Freedom of
Information Team, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5 6LE
or by email to [PSNI request email]. Alternatively, if you wish to
discuss your request or have any additional queries you can contact
me on 028 9070 0164.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Gordon Reid

A/Head of Freedom of Information

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Subject: F-2008-05027

December 4, 2008

Dear Lord McDowall,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information, which was
received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on 12th
November, 2008 and clarified on 15^th November, 2008, concerning:

The number of serving police officers with criminal convictions.

This is to inform you that the Police Service of Northern Ireland has now
completed its search for the information you requested. The decision has
been taken to disclose the located information to you in full.

Request - Please confirm how many serving officers in the PSNI, have been
convicted of: Fraud and deception related offences, violent offences
including assault, drug related offences, sexual offences or racial,
religious or homophobic offences (clarified as the number of currently
serving police officers who have been convicted of these offences where
details had been reported to the Professional Standards Department of the
PSNI) in the past 3 years.

Answer - From 12^th November 2005 until the date of your request, a total
of two officers currently serving have been convicted of a criminal
offence in the categories you requested and reported to Professional
Standards Department of the PSNI.

One serving officer was convicted of forgery. This officer was
administered with an Adult Caution as directed by the Public Prosecution
Service. The nature of the direction suggests that the offence was at the
lower end of the scale.

The other serving officer was convicted of possession of a class C drug.
This officer is currently suspended from duty pending a misconduct
hearing. No officer currently serving has been convicted of a violent
offence or of an offence of a sexual, racial, religious or homophobic
nature.

Officers convicted of criminal offences, in addition to being dealt with
through the normal criminal process, are also subject to internal
misconduct investigations, which may lead to misconduct hearings and
sanctions.

It should be noted that each case is examined on an individual basis to
determine the level and nature of misconduct of the officer and the extent
to which the PSNI's Code of Ethics has been breached. The seriousness of
the offence, the circumstances surrounding its commission and its
potential impact will dictate the level of action to be pursued and the
misconduct sanction ultimately imposed.

The figures supplied have been compiled by the PSNI's Professional
Standards Department which has responsibility for internal discipline
relating to police officers.

The Police Service expects its staff to behave professionally, ethically
and with the utmost integrity at all times. Whilst the Service takes
extremely seriously any allegation of wrongdoing, the number of cases must
be put into context of the overall size of the police service i.e. just
under 9000 officers at the date of your request.

United Kingdom Police Services do not use generic systems to capture
information. For this reason the PSNI's response to your questions should
not be used for comparison purposes with any other Police Service.

If you have any queries regarding your request or the decision please do
not hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Team on 028 9070 0164.
When contacting the Freedom of Information Team, please quote the
reference number listed at the beginning of this letter.

If you are dissatisfied in any way with the handling of your request, you
have the right to request a review in accordance with our complaints
procedure. In the event that you require a review to be undertaken, you
can do so by writing to the Head of the Freedom of Information Team,
Freedom of Information, and PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5
6LE or by emailing [email address].

If following an internal review you remain dissatisfied in anyway with the
handling of the request you may make a complaint to the Information
Commissioner and ask that they investigate whether the PSNI has complied
with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. You can write to the
Information Commissioner at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe
House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. In most circumstances the
Information Commissioner will not investigate a complaint unless an
internal review procedure has been carried out, however the Commissioner
has the option to investigate the matter at his discretion.

Please be advised that all PSNI replies under Freedom of Information will
be released simultaneously into the public domain via our website @
[1]www.psni.police.uk.

Personal details in respect of your request have, where applicable, been
removed to protect confidentiality

Yours sincerely

Mr Gordon Reid

A/Head of Freedom of Information

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.psni.police.uk/