Form 124D Domestic abuse

Dear Paul,

Freedom of Information Request Reference No:2010010001920

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 12/01/2010.

"Please provide all Metropolitan Police guidance/instructions/procedures
or any other material used to complete, organise or otherwise facilitate
the completion of the FORM 124D Domestic abuse form.

Also please provide a blank form in conjunction with this request".

Under section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act, a request is not deemed
to be 'valid' unless it is accompanied by the name of the applicant. At
present, name you have submitted does not meet this requirement. To assist
you, I have provided the relevant section of the Act below, and included
the link to the ICO guidance on valid names and addresses.
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
Page 3 of the guidance contains a useful example which I have included
below:
"Mr Arthur Thomas Roberts could satisfy section 8(1)(b) of the FOIA by
stating his name in a request for information as “Arthur Roberts”,
“A. T. Roberts”, or “Mr Roberts”, but not by stating his name as
“Arthur” or “A.T.R.”
LEGAL APPENDIX
Section 8 of the Act provides:
(1) In this Act any reference to a "request for information" is a
reference to such a request which-
(a) is in writing,
(b) states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence,
and
(c) describes the information requested.
To enable us to meet your request could you please resubmit your
application in accordance with the above requirement. If for any reason
you are unable to do so, please contact me for assistance.
We will consider your resubmitted request upon receipt as long as it meets
the requirement stated above. You will receive the information requested
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act,
subject to the information not being exempt.
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

If you are dissatisfied with this response please read the attached paper
entitled Complaint Rights which explains how to make a complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me via email, quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

A. Duncan
Policy & Support Team

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.

Ask to have the decision looked at again -

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 40 working days.

The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 01625 545 700

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Dear Mr Mason

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2010010001920
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 13/01/2010. I note you seek
access to the following information:

* "Please provide all Metropolitan Police
guidance/instructions/procedures or any other material used to
complete, organise or otherwise facilitate the completion of the FORM
124D Domestic abuse form. Also please provide a blank form in
conjunction with this request".

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act). 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 the MPS may be unable to
achieve this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and
given a revised time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your
right of complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
me via email quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

A. Duncan
Policy & Support Team
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think
the decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your
request.

Ask to have the decision looked at again ***

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is
to telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your
decision letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues
and assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision
of the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act)
regarding access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS
to have the decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 40 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied
with the decision you may make application to the Information
Commissioner for a decision on whether the request for information has
been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information
Commissioner please visit their website at
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk. Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 01625 545 700

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Dear Mr. Mason,

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2010010001920

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 12/01/2010. I note you seek
access to the following information:

* Please provide all Metropolitan Police
guidance/instructions/procedures or any other material used to
complete, organise or otherwise facilitate the completion of the FORM
124D Domestic abuse form. Also please provide a blank form in
conjunction with this request.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), we have 20 working
days to respond to a request for information unless we are considering
whether the information requested is covered by one of the 'qualified
exemptions' (exemptions which must be tested against the public interest
before deciding whether they apply to the information in question).

Where we are considering the public interest test against the application
of relevant qualified exemptions, Section 17(2)(b) provides that we can
extend the 20 day deadline.

Section 17(2) provides:

2) Where-
a) in relation to any request for information, a public authority is, as
respects any information, relying on a claim-
i) that any provision of Part II which relates to the duty to confirm or
deny and is not specified in section 2(3) is relevant to the request, or
ii) that the information is exempt information only by virtue of a
provision not specified in section 2(3), and
b) at the time when the notice under subsection (1) is given to the
applicant, the public authority (or, in a case falling within section
66(3) or (4), the responsible authority) has not yet reached a decision as
to the application of subsection (1)(b) or (2)(b) of section 2,
the notice under subsection (1) must indicate that no decision as to the
application of that provision has yet been reached and must contain an
estimate of the date by which the authority expects that such a decision
will have been reached.

I am sorry to inform you that we have not been able to complete our
response to your request by the date originally stated, as we are
currently considering whether 'qualified exemptions' apply to the
information you have requested. As a result we will not be able to respond
within 20 working days.

For your information we are considering the following exemption:

Section 31 - Law Enforcement

I can now advise you that the amended date for a response is 26 February
2010.

May I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

If you are dissatisfied with this response please read the attached paper
entitled Complaint Rights which explains how to make a complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me on 0207 161 3583 or at the address at the top of this letter,
quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

David Edwards
FOIA Quality and Assurance Advisor

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.

Ask to have the decision looked at again -

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 40 working days.

The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 01625 545 700

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Dear Mr. Mason,

I have today attempted to send you my response to the above request.
Unfortunately this has come back as undeliverable stating: "This message
is larger than the current system limit or the recipient's mailbox is
full. Create a shorter message body or remove attachments and try sending
it again."

Although the MPS does have a limit on the size of emails employees can
send I have looked at these attachments and they do not appear to be
overly large. Therefore the issue may be due to the Whatdotheyknow
mailbox capacity (either individually or for the website as a whole).

In any case I will now attempt to send you the response and attachments
separately however if you do not receive these emails please contact my
colleague Sarah Strong ([email address]) for further assistance
as I am out of the office from 15-19 February 2010 inclusive.

There is one response letter and three PDF attachments.

Regards,

David.

David Edwards
Freedom of Information Act
Quality and Assurance Advisor - DoI 2(3)

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Dear Mr. Mason,

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2010010001920

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 12/01/2010. I note you seek
access to the following information:

* Please provide all Metropolitan Police
guidance/instructions/procedures or any other material used to
complete, organise or otherwise facilitate the completion of the
FORM 124D Domestic abuse form.
* Also please provide a blank form in conjunction with this
request.

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within the MPS
to locate information relevant to your request.

EXTENT OF SEARCHES TO LOCATE INFORMATION

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted
at our Territorial Policing HQ

RESULT OF SEARCHES

The searches located records relevant to your request.

DECISION

I have today decided to:

* Provide you with a link to our Policy regarding Domestic
Violence (DV).
* Provide you with a copy of the MPS SPECSS+ Domestic Violence
Risk Identification, Assessment and Management Model
* Provide you with a copy of the blank 124d and attached guidance
subject to the deletion of information pursuant to the
provisions of Section 31 Law Enforcement of the Act.
* Provide you with a copy of the Domestic Violence Standard
Operating Procedures subject to the deletion of information
pursuant to the provisions of Section 31 Law Enforcement of the
Act.

REASONS FOR DECISION

Please see the legal annex for the relevant section of the Act referred to
in this response.

The Policy regarding Domestic Violence is available at the following link:

[1]http://www.met.police.uk/foi/pdfs/polici...

As this information is published on our Publication Scheme it is already
accessible via other means. Therefore, and in accordance with Section 21
of the Act, I will not attach another copy to this response.

Evidence of Harm in fully disclosing the redacted information.

In considering whether or not this information should be disclosed, I have
considered the potential harm that could be caused by disclosure.

The release of information under the Freedom of Information Act is
considered disclosure to the world as the identity of the requestor is not
considered. If this information was to be disclosed to you the MPS will
be showing a willingness to disclose the same information to any future
requestor.

The text redacted under Section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) contains information which,
if released, would be likely to prejudice the ability of the MPS to
prevent or detect crime, to apprehend or prosecute offenders, or
administer justice. The information contains our guidance and best
practice procedures for apprehending and successfully prosecuting
offenders. Disclosure would enable offenders to take measures to disrupt
the administration of justice.

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

Public Awareness and Debate

Provision of the full information would help reassure members of the
public that the MPS are actively working to combat Domestic Violence,
prosecute DV offenders and encourage the reporting of DV offences.
Disclosure would improve public awareness of the problem of DV crimes and
it would help to encourage accurate debate correcting rumours, falsehoods
and dispelling myths concerning DV.

Public interest considerations favouring non-disclosure

Efficient and Effective Conduct of the Service

As I have identified in the harm section of this letter above, full
disclosure of our Standard Operating Procedures and 124d Guidance would
hinder our ability to apprehend offenders. Information intended to help
an officer obtain the best possible evidence of DV crimes, for example,
would be a valuable commodity to individuals who commit DV crimes. Should
offenders become aware of our guidance in respect of evidence gathering
measures would be taken to avoid either apprehension or prosecution. This
would have an effect on the efficient and effective conduct of the service
as DV offenders that avoid prosecution are likely to repeat their offences
putting additional strain on the resources of the MPS and reducing police
effectiveness.

Public Safety

In addition to the above, any disclosure that would potentially allow for
violent and dangerous offenders to avoid the criminal justice process
would be undoubtedly putting members of the public at risk of further
offences. While the primary risk in this instance would be to individuals
known to the offender, there would also be an increased risk to the public
at large.

As the prosecution of offenders is in the 'public's interest', any release
of information which would be likely to prejudice our ability conduct this
function could only be viewed as being harmful to the public interest.

Balancing Test

After weighing up the competing interests I have determined that the full
disclosure of the above information would not be in the public interest.
I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being
fully disclosed does not outweigh the negative impact of disclosing this
information. Additionally I believe that the public interest identified
above, namely improving public awareness and debate, will be satisfied in
the documents that have been approved for disclosure.

Please find attached the requested documents (due to restrictions these
will now be emailed separately).

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

If you are dissatisfied with this response please read the attached paper
entitled Complaint Rights which explains how to make a complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me on 0207 161 3583 or at the address at the top of this letter,
quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

David Edwards
FOIA Quality and Assurance Advisor

Legal Annex

Section 17 of the Act provides:

(1) A public authority which, in relation to any request for
information, is to any extent relying on a claim that any provision in
part II relating to the duty to confirm or deny is relevant to the request
or on a claim that information is exempt information must, within the time
for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice which-

(a) states the fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question, and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption
applies.

Section 21 of the Act provides:

(1) Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant
otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.

Section 31 of the Act provides:

(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--

(a) the prevention or detection of crime,
(b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders,
(c) the administration of justice

In complying with their statutory duty under sections 1 and 11 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the enclosed information, the
Metropolitan Police Service 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 MPS Directorate of Legal
Services, 1st Floor (Victoria Block), New Scotland Yard, Victoria, London,
SW1H 0BG.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.

Ask to have the decision looked at again -

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 40 working days.

The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at [2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 01625 545 700

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.met.police.uk/foi/pdfs/polici...
2. file://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Dear Mr. Mason,

Please see the attached disclosure.

<<MPSDVSPECSS2008.doc.pdf>>

Regards,

David.
David Edwards
Freedom of Information Act
Quality and Assurance Advisor - DoI 2(3)

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Dear Mr. Mason,

Please see the attached disclosure.

<<F124DAdvice.doc.pdf>>

Regards,

David.
David Edwards
Freedom of Information Act
Quality and Assurance Advisor - DoI 2(3)

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Dear Mr. Mason,

Please see the attached disclosure.

<<FOIA 2009 SOP.doc.pdf>>

Regards,

David.
David Edwards
Freedom of Information Act
Quality and Assurance Advisor - DoI 2(3)

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Dear Mr. Mason,

Apologies that I didn't send through a separate blank 124d form (which I
have attached below). The reason for this was that the document is
included on the left hand side of the attachment "F124DAdvice".

Sorry that I was not able to respond to your email sooner however I was
out of the office last week.

If I can be of further assistance please let me know.

Regards,

David.
David Edwards
Freedom of Information Act
Quality and Assurance Advisor - DoI 2(3)

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