Code of Ethics - Business interest - DC Thomason - www.stalkinginvestigations.co.uk

Independent Police Support Group made this Freedom of Information request to Cheshire Constabulary This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Waiting for an internal review by Cheshire Constabulary of their handling of this request.

Independent Police Support Group

Dear Cheshire Constabulary,

[irrelevant material removed]

Please provide the following information :

1. DC Thomason states that he is offering professional advice, please provide a copy of any documentation including applications for a business interest regarding the service he is providing .
2. Is Cheshire police indemnifying DC Thomason for the advice he is providing?
3. In the last 12 months, how many stalkers has DC Thomason arrested and what was the outcome of the case.
4. Please provide a breakdown of any police funds paid to Paladin.
5. In the last 12 months, how many incidents have been recorded of harassment or stalking?
6. In the last 12 months, how many crimes reference numbers have been allocated to allegations of harassment or stalking.
7. What was the disposal/outcome of the crimes reported as per point (5).
8. How many incidents of domastic abuse were recorded in the last 12 months?
9. How many of those domestic abuse incidents resulted in a crime reference number/
10. What was the disposal/outcome of the crimes reported as per point (9)

Yours faithfully,

Independent Police Support Group

Freedom of Information,

Dear Sirs,
 
I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence received 15/12/2014 which is
being dealt with as a request for information in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
I am in the process of dealing with your request and will respond in due
course and in any case by 15/01/2015. Please contact us by e-mail at
[Cheshire Constabulary request email] if you have any further enquiries.
 
Regards
Hayley Latham
Information Compliance
Professional Standards Department
Tel:    01606 366556

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Independent Police Support Group

Dear Freedom of Information,

Thank you for the update.

Yours sincerely,

Independent Police Support Group

Freedom of Information,

1 Attachment

Dear Sirs,
 
I refer to your recent request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, as set out below:
 
Please provide the following information :
 
1.      xxxxxxxx states that he is offering professional advice, please
provide a copy of any documentation including applications for a business
interest regarding the service he is providing .
2.      Is Cheshire police indemnifying xxxxxxxx for the advice he is
providing?
3.      In the last 12 months, how many stalkers has xxxxxxxxx arrested
and what was the outcome of the case.
4.      Please provide a breakdown of any police funds paid to Paladin.
5.      In the last 12 months, how many incidents have been recorded of
harassment or stalking?
6.      In the last 12 months, how many crimes reference numbers have been
allocated to allegations of harassment or stalking.
7.      What was the disposal/outcome of the crimes reported as per point
(5).
8. How many incidents of domastic abuse were recorded in the last 12
months?
9. How many of those domestic abuse  incidents resulted in a crime
reference number/ 10. What was the disposal/outcome of the crimes reported
as per point (9)
 
In accordance with section 1(1) (a) of the Act, our response is as
follows:
 
In respect of Questions 1, 2 & 3:
 
The Cheshire Constabulary can neither confirm nor deny that it holds the
information that you are requesting. To give a statement  of the reasons
why neither confirming nor denying is appropriate in this case would
itself involve disclosure of exempt information, therefore under section
17(4), no explanation can be given. To the extent that section 40 (5)
applies, the Cheshire Constabulary has determined that in all the
circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exclusion
of the duty to neither confirm nor deny outweighs the public interest in
confirming whether or not the information is held.
 
In respect of Questions 4 to 9:
 
From our preliminary assessment, we estimate that compliance with your
request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is currently £450. The basis for
this calculation is the cost of retrieving the information to answer your
Questions 5, 9 & 10. Incidents of harassment are not separately
categorised and coded on our system but are included in a finalisation
code headed ‘violence &  threats to life’. In order to identify the
harassment incidents from others it would require a manual examination of
over 10,000 incidents. This would take a minimum of 160 hours which
exceeds the appropriate limit and your request is refused.
 
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Cheshire
Constabulary, when  refusing  to  provide  such  information  (because the
information  is  exempt)  to provide you 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.
 
The appropriate limit is defined in the Data Protection and Freedom of
Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which is
covered by statutory Instrument Number 3244 of 2004. Furthermore, Section
12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows a public authority to
refuse to respond to a request for information where the cost of
compliance would exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the above
mentioned regulations.
 
We are able to supply information in respect of Questions 6, 7 & 8 within
the FOI cost limits.
 
If I can be any further assistance in this matter, please do not hesitate
to contact me.
 
If you are not satisfied with the decision applied in this case I enclose
for your attention a copy of the Constabulary's appeal procedures.
 
 
Regards
 
John Gannon
Information Compliance
Professional Standards Department
Tel:  01606 364176

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Independent Police Support Group

Dear Cheshire Constabulary,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Cheshire Constabulary's handling of my FOI request 'Code of Ethics - Business interest - DC Thomason - www.stalkinginvestigations.co.uk'.

Dear Mr Gannon,
Thank you for your response.
With regards to your response to questions 1 to 3 we do not intend to seek an internal review but would expect that as a member of the Professional Standards Department you pass on this information for investigation as their appear to be breaches of the Standards of Professional Behaviour for police officers and the code of Ethics.
We can see no reason why you cannot provide the information given in this case particularly as the officer has advertised himself to the worldwide community via the internet and other means of global communication so does not appear to wish to have his details kept secret.
With respect to questions 4 to 10 we would seek an internal review. You appear to have missed Question number 10.
In relation to Question 4 – any payment to a private company should be readily accessible via computerized records which are required to be kept forming part of the usual accounting practices of a police force.
With regards to Questions 5 to 10, the information requested should be readily available and accessible via accessing the relevant computer systems held within the force.
Incidents and Crimes are recorded by your force in accordance with the National Crime Recording System (NCRS).
You have a dedicated domestic abuse/public protection unit who should have these figures to hand as they are the typical type of questions which domestic abuse and other support organizations would ask police forces for statistics and to help monitoring the success of various campaigns.
At first glance, the response to the FOI request appears to be an attempt at seeking ways of avoiding to supply the information requested rather than a willingness to comply with the act.
We have been reasonable in requesting the information in one request rather than sending several individual requests asking for one or two pieces of information.
We would be grateful if you would conduct an internal review of this matter.
We would wish to keep the work carried out for both of us to a minimum in this matter and prevent the matter escalating where we would make enquiries of the HMIC and the PCC.
This matter is in the public interest, domestic violence and stalking is an area of police business which is in the National press on a daily basis concerning homicide, there should be no excuse for the force not to have such figures readily available.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Independent Police Support Group

Freedom of Information,

Dear Independent Police Support Group
 
Thank you for your email dated 03/01/2015 in which you express
dissatisfaction with our response to your request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, our reference number (6034)
 
In view of your comments your request has been forwarded to Mr Nick Regan
who has been appointed by the Authority to act as an independent
appeals/reviewing officer. In accordance with our current policy, in line
with the requirements of the Act and guidance from the Information
Commissioner, our response to a review will be provided on or before the
03/02/2015.
 
If you require any further information you may contact Mr Regan direct on
the following:
 
By telephone: 01606 364113
 
or by email to
 
[email address]
 
You can of course contact me direct over this or any other FOI matter at
any time using the contact information already provided.
 
Regards 
 
Sarah Davies
Freedom of Information Compliance Officer
Tel: 01244 616556
==========================
Cheshire Constabulary HQ
Winsford
CW7 2UA
==========================
 
 
 

This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only.
Please notify the sender if received in error. Internet email
is not to be treated as a secure means of communication.
The Constabulary monitors all Internet and email activity
and requires it is used for official communications only. Thank
you for your co-operation.

Nick Regan,

Dear Sirs,

Internal Review – The Freedom of Information Act 2000

I write with reference to your email of Saturday 3rd January 2015 in which you requested a formal appeal against the Constabulary’s response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In line with S45 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Code of Practice), I have conducted an internal review in relation to your request for information. In carrying out this review, I have referred to the legislation guidance, the Code of Practice on the Discharge of the Functions of Public Authorities under Part 1 of the Freedom of Information Act. I have also taken into account the ACPO Freedom of Information Act Manual of Guidance and the communications between yourself and the Constabulary in relation to your request for information.

For the purposes of clarity and in line with your instructions, I have conducted the Internal Review only in relation to questions 4 to 10 inclusive.
These are set out below :

4. Please provide a breakdown of any police funds paid to Paladin.
5. In the last 12 months, how many incidents have been recorded of harassment or stalking?
6. In the last 12 months, how many crimes reference numbers have been allocated to allegations of harassment or stalking.
7. What was the disposal/outcome of the crimes reported as per point (5).
8. How many incidents of domastic abuse were recorded in the last 12 months?
9. How many of those domestic abuse incidents resulted in a crime reference number/
10. What was the disposal/outcome of the crimes reported as per point (9)

I would advise that after due consideration, the original Freedom of Information Act response as detailed in the Constabulary’s email is upheld.

When communicating a S17 notice in refusing to provide the information, the Constabulary is required to set out details that (i) states that fact (ii) specifies the exemption in question and (iii) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

The Constabulary is correct in its application of S12 of the Freedom of Information Act. The collation of the information requested, with particular regard to the fact that the information would have to be subject to manual interrogation, is such that the limits as set out in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limits) Regulations 2004 are applicable. These Regulations detail that the cost limits for the Police Service is £450 (18 hours). For police staff, the information requested is recorded on individual personnel files and any associated manual search would exceed the prescribed limit.

I would refer you to the Constabulary’s original response and in particular the advice given for questions 6,7 and 8.

As S12 can be applied to the request in its entirety if the Fee Regulations is invoked through an element of the request, I would invite you to consider refining your request accordingly.

If I can be of any further assistance in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you have further recourse for appeal, if required, to the Information Commissioner. Information can be obtained about the appeal procedure from:

The Information Commissioner
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK8 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Nick Regan

Nick Regan
Information Security Manager
Information Compliance
Professional Standards
Cheshire Constabulary
01606 364113

This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only.
Please notify the sender if received in error. Internet email
is not to be treated as a secure means of communication.
The Constabulary monitors all Internet and email activity
and requires it is used for official communications only. Thank
you for your co-operation.

Independent Police Support Group

Dear Nick Regan,

Thank you for your response.

We are not satisfied with the response and feel that we have been as flexible as possible with our requests and asking for information covering a short period of time.

There has been recent publicity concerning Paladin which raises additional concerns, there is a public interest factor with regards to the questions we previously asked. The recent publicity can be viewed at the following link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...

With regards to the statistics we have asked for, these should be readily available in electronic format as previously mentioned.

You have suggested refining our request to fit in with the £450 limit, what statistics are you able to supply within that budget?

In these circumstances, other forces have at least taken the initiative to supply what they could within the budget.

Bearing in mind that these figures should be readily available we would like to see some cooperation, you have given us nothing so far and we feel that the force is simply being obstructive.

If you do not record the information we have asked for in an electronically retrievable form, that is an area that the force need to address considering the publicity surrounding Domestic Violence and Stalking.

This would merit a direction and control complaint against your Chief Constable.

We look forward to hearing from you so we can consider our options.

Yours sincerely,

Independent Police Support Group