High Tech Crime Unit/RIPA/Phorm

Corporate Information Management Department

Force Headquarters, PO Box 37, Valley Road,

Portishead, Bristol, BS20 8QJ

Facsimile 01275 814667

Private
P. John
[[FOI #16391 email]] Our Reference 09/475
Your reference
Date 06 August 2009
Dear sir / madam

Thank you for your request for information dated 5^th August, relating to
RIPA part 1. 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 Avon and Somerset Constabulary 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.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

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.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Officer

Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Information Management Department

Please note;

1. Requests and responses may be published on Avon and Somerset
Constabulary’s website (within 24 hours), some of which may
contain a link to additional information, which may provide
you with further clarification.
2. Whilst we may verbally discuss your request with you in order
to seek clarification, all other communication should be made
in writing.
3. Avon and Somerset Constabulary provides you with the right to
request a re-examination of your case under its review
procedure (copy enclosed).

<<A&S Appeals Procedure - E-Mail.doc>>

Dear Mr John,

I apologise for not having responded to you sooner. Your request is
currently being worked on, however, given the nature of the information
requested several exemptions to disclosure are being considered and as a
result your request is being extended. Your new deadline is 9th October
2009.

I regret any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Officer
Avon and Somerset Constabulary

show quoted sections

Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Corporate Information Management Department

Force Headquarters, PO Box 37, Valley Road,

Portishead, Bristol, BS20 8QJ

Facsimile 01275 814667

Private

Mr P John
[FOI #16391 email]
Our Reference 09/475
Your reference
Date 30 September 2009

Dear Mr John

I write in connection with your request for information dated 5th August
2009 relating to Part 1 of RIPA.

You have posed a number of questions for which I have provided appropriate
responses as follows:

1) Please could you confirm, RIPA Part I states that it is "an
offence for a person intentionally and without lawful authority to
intercept, at any place in the United Kingdom, any communication in the
course of its transmission" and on conviction "to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding two years".

Although this is not deemed to be a legitimate request under the Freedom
of Information act as you are not seeking disclosure of recorded
information held by the Constabulary, I can confirm that the above is an
accurate extract from the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

2) Please could you disclose correspondence between the Avon and
Somerset Constabulary High Tech Crime Unit, and the Home Office OSCT
Intelligence and Security Liaison Unit (ISLU) (or other unit in the Home
Office) concerning the application of RIPA Part I (interception) to
Internet Service Providers, or the companies

British Telecom/121Media/Phorm since 1 January 2006.

Please note that Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the
first duty at Sec1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information
specified in a request is held. The second duty at Sec1(1)(b) is to
disclose information that has been confirmed as being held. Where
exemptions are relied upon S17 of FOIA requires that we provide the
applicant with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the
exemption(s) in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be
apparent) why the exemption applies.

The Avon and Somerset Constabulary can neither confirm nor deny that it
holds any information relevant to your request as the duty in S1(1)(a) of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply, by virtue of the
following exemptions:

Section 23(5) Information relating to the Security bodies;

Section 24(2) National Security;

Section 30(3) Investigations;

Section 31(3) Law enforcement;

This should not be taken as conclusive evidence that any further
information that would meet your request exists or does not exist.

Section 23 is an absolute exemption but Sections 24(2), 30(3), and 31(3)
are qualified and require a public interest balancing test to be conducted
before they can be relied upon.

In respect of all three qualified exemptions it has been determined that
in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining
the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny outweighs the public interest
in confirming whether we hold the information.

To confirm or deny any Police actions in this specialist tactical area
would undermine ongoing investigations, reveal policing techniques, risk
the identification of individuals, possibly reveal the involvement of any
exempt bodies and risk undermining National Security.

The Police Service is committed to demonstrating proportionality and
accountability regarding surveillance techniques to the appropriate
authorities. However, if the Police Service were to either confirm or deny
these questions, other covert surveillance tactics will either be
compromised or significantly weakened. If the Police Service denies a
tactic is used in one request but then exempts for another, requestors can
determine the ‘exempt’ answer is in fact a technique used in
policing. The impact could undermine national security, any on-going
investigations and any future investigations, as it would enable targeted
individuals/groups to become surveillance aware. This would help subjects
avoid detection, and inhibit the prevention and detection of crime.

3) Please could you disclose the dates of all contacts between the
High Tech Crime Unit and DC Richard Kitchener/DI Mark Sanders at Bath
Police station in the period April/May 2008.

I can confirm that DC Kitchener contacted the High Tech Crime Unit on
Tuesday 7th April.

4) Please could you disclose any correspondence
(phone/fax/email/memo/letter/forms etc) between the High Tech Crime Unit
and DC Richard Kitchener/DI Mark Sanders at Bath Police station in the
period April/May 2008.

A response has already been provided to you in relation to this question
under your previous FoI request 09/345 in that no information is held.

5) Please could you disclose any contemporaneous notes of
conversations between the High Tech Crime Unit and DC Richard Kitchener/DI
Mark Sanders of Bath Police station in the period April/May 2008.

Relevant notes were provided to you under your previous FoI request 09/345
with suitable redactions being made in line with the 1998 Data Protection
Act.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the delay in
providing you with a response and to thank you for your interest in Avon
and Somerset Constabulary.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Officer

Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Information Management Department

Please note:

1. Requests and responses may be published on Avon and Somerset
Constabulary’s website (within 24 hours), some of which may
contain a link to additional information, which may provide
you with further clarification.
2. Whilst we may verbally discuss your request with you in order
to seek clarification, all other communication should be made
in writing.
3. Avon and Somerset Constabulary provides you with the right to
request a re-examination of your case under its review
procedure (copy attached).

<<A&S Appeals Procedure - E-Mail.doc>>