Any official and or unofficial agreed protocol, procedure or policy when dealing with issues that relate to Martin McGartland

The request was refused by Northumbria Police.

Dear Northumbria Police,
Under the FOIA 2000 please provide all recorded information Northumbria Police hold concerning any official and or unofficial agreed protocol, procedure or policy (either written or verbal) within Northumbria Police concerning how NP staff should deal with FOI request/s, complaint/s and all/any other dealings that relate to Martin McGartland, his cases as well as his attempted murder case.

Please supply all recorded information relating to such written and/or verbal policies. I would also ask that you supply me with copies. I am also requesting all recorded information concerning any officers or officers who act as a point of contact within Northiumbria Police regards this request.

Yours faithfully,

Jeff Hayward

Northumbria Police

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Thank you for your email received today in which you make a request for
information that Northumbria Police may hold.

We are in the process of dealing with your request and a response should be
provided to you by 18/06/13.

Yours sincerely

Jan Mcewan

Disclosure Section

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

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Northumbria Police

1 Attachment

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

Thank you for your e mail dated 20 May 2013 in which you made a request for
access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria Police.

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held by a Public Authority (including the Police),
subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

Under the FOIA 2000 please provide all recorded information Northumbria
Police hold concerning any official and or unofficial agreed protocol,
procedure or policy (either written or verbal) within Northumbria Police
concerning how NP staff should deal with FOI request/s, complaint/s and
all/any other dealings that relate to Martin McGartland, his cases as well
as his attempted murder case.
Please supply all recorded information relating to such written and/or
verbal policies. I would also ask that you supply me with copies.

I am also requesting all recorded information concerning any officers or
officers who act as a point of contact within Northiumbria Police regards
this request.

In response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I
provide a response for your attention.

Our stance on requests regarding Mr McGartland and his case remians
unaltered from your previous requests on this matter.
I have again outlined our response provided to you previously, below.

The Disclosure Section has received a large number of other requests from
several parties dating from September 2009 onwards, these all concern
operations involving the specific case of the shooting of Martin
McGartland. Many of these have correctly been classed as vexatious. A
large number of the requests have come through the same web-site and it
would appear that these requestors have been acting in concert due to the
similarity, frequency and nature of the requests submitted. It is relevant
to take into account the volume and frequency of submissions when
considering whether requests can fairly be regarded as obsessive in nature.
Many of the responses supplied by this department have subsequently been
followed up by further requests for information or requests for internal
reviews. Indeed you too have put further questions to Northumbria Police
through the same Freedom of Information request on this subject matter.

Section 14 - Freedom of Information Act 2000

Section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act does not oblige a public
authority to comply with a request for information if the request is deemed
as Vexatious.

Where a public authority has previously complied with a request for
information which was made by any person, it is not obliged to comply with
a subsequent identical or substantially similar request from that person.

An authority is not obliged to deal with requests that are manifestly
unreasonable or obsessive. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
guidance on vexatious requests states “there is a risk that some
individuals and some organisations may seek to abuse these new rights with
requests which are manifestly unreasonable. Such cases may well arise in
connection with a grievance or complaint which an individual is pursuing
against an authority. While giving maximum support to individuals genuinely
seeking to exercise the right to know, the ICO’s general approach will be
sympathetic towards authorities where a request, which may be the latest in
a series of requests, would impose a significant burden and can otherwise
be characterised as obsessive or manifestly unreasonable". It is clear that
a Freedom of Information request is not the appropriate arena within which
to air a grievance or progress a campaign against Northumbria Police.

Further to this, ICO guidance states “A request may not be vexatious in
isolation, but when considered in context (for example if it is the latest
in a long series of overlapping requests or other correspondence) it may
form part of a wider pattern of behaviour that makes it vexatious”.
Clearly your request when taken in context with the many other requests
received on this subject is part of an ongoing campaign that can be fairly
called vexatious in nature. Please note that it is the subject of the
request that can be declared vexatious rather than the requestor and it is
therefore relevant to take into account all other requests received and
subsequent responses issued on this matter.

As it is believed that you are acting as part of a campaign group it is
entirely appropriate to take into account the requests made by other
members of that group on the same subject.

Via the What Do They Know web-site, it is apparent that several requests
have been made to a number of different public bodies on this subject.
These requests would all appear to be from people acting in concert in an
attempt to raise a grievance against Northumbria Police.

Your request is clearly part of this campaign and it is very probable that
you are acting in concert with the other parties who have also submitted
requests to various public bodies relating to the same subject.

It is in the public domain that the investigation into the shooting remains
live. Any requests received regarding this ongoing investigation can fairly
be seen as designed to disrupt the normal business process (the ongoing
investigation). Any release of information which is likely to be to the
detriment of the legal process must be resisted at this time.

In conclusion I am satisfied that your request is of a vexatious nature and
I therefore must advise you that further requests made under the Act, for
information relating to the incident in which Mr McGartland was shot and
any subsequent information relating to the investigation arising from the
incident, associated legal proceedings, and related matters will not be
acknowledged or responded to.

You should note that following this correspondence, we are not obliged to,
nor do we intend to, take any further steps in relation to this matter or
any further requests that you submit that are deemed to fall into the remit
of vexatious.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual
property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be
strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as
amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not
re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

How to complain

If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have
handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue
informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our
complaints procedure which is attached.

(See attached file: FOI Complaint Rights.doc)

If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and
reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain
whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.

Yours sincerely

Michael Cleugh
Data Protection and Disclosure Advisor
Direct Dial: 0191 2956941

[NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED]
NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website - http://www.northumbria.police.uk