Counter UAS system deployed at Silverstone

This request has been withdrawn by the person who made it. There may be an explanation in the correspondence below.

Dear Northamptonshire Police,

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were noted as providing a Counter UAS system for use at Silverstone.

Could you clarify which counter UAS system was used, for example DJI AeroScope and what the cost of the system was?

Yours faithfully,

I Hudson

Strike Carol,

1 Attachment

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION  Our Ref:
004189/19

 

With reference to your e-mail received 16/07/2019 requesting information:

 

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were noted as providing a Counter
UAS system for use at Silverstone.

 

Could you clarify which counter UAS system was used, for example DJI
AeroScope and what the cost of the system was?

 

This is to inform you that Northamptonshire Police will not be able to
complete the response to your request within 20 working days. However,
every effort will be made to ensure that you receive an appropriate
response as soon as possible. The ICO is aware and we are currently
enacting a recovery plan.

 

On behalf of Northamptonshire Police, I do apologise for any inconvenience
that may be caused by this delay and if you wish to discuss this any
further then please contact the undersigned.

 

Northamptonshire Police provides a review and appeals procedure within the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If you decide to make an
appeal and, having followed the full process you are still dissatisfied,
you will then have the right to direct your comments to the Information
Commissioner who will give due consideration to the matter. See Appendix
'a' attached.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Carol

 

 

Carol Strike|Detective Constable 1038

Force Information Unit | Professional Standards Department

Northamptonshire Police

 

Telephone: 101 | Ext No. 345759 - (If calling from outside
Northamptonshire, please call 03000 111 222)

Email: [1][email address]

Address: Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall, Wootton Hall Park, Northampton
NN4 0JQ

 

Northamptonshire Police "Putting Communities First"

 

The content of this email should be treated as OFFICIAL - SENSITIVE unless
otherwise indicated

 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information,

2 Attachments

Dear Sir/Madam,   

 

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION Our Ref:
004189/19

 

With reference to your e-mail received 16/07/2019 requesting information
as reproduced below:

 

Dear Northamptonshire Police,

 

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service were noted as providing a Counter
UAS system for use at Silverstone.

 

Could you clarify which counter UAS system was used, for example DJI
AeroScope and what the cost of the system was?

 

Please see the response to your request in the attached document.

 

I trust you find this information to be satisfactory but if you have any
further queries please do not hesitate to contact me. On behalf of
Northamptonshire Police I would like to apologise for the delay in getting
this information to you.

 

Northamptonshire Police provides a review and appeals procedure within the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If you decide to make an
appeal and, having followed the full process you are still dissatisfied,
you will then have the right to direct your comments to the Information
Commissioner who will give due consideration to the matter. See Appendix
'A' attached.

 

Yours sincerely

 

PC 700 Singy BAGNIUK

Freedom of Information Officer | Force Information Unit | Professional
Standards Department

 

Tel : 101 | Ext. 341172 (If calling from outside of Northamptonshire,
please call 03000 111 222)

Address : Force Headquarters | Wootton Hall | Wootton Hall Park |
Northampton | NN4 0JQ

 

Northamptonshire Police – Fighting crime, protecting people

 

The content of this email should be treated as OFFICIAL - SENSITIVE unless
otherwise indicated

 

show quoted sections

Dear Northamptonshire Police,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Northamptonshire Police's handling of my FOI request 'Counter UAS system deployed at Silverstone'.

The response provided shows contempt for the FOI Act in making an effort to hide behind national security concerns when the police are accountable for spending money on technology especially where it is arguable the priority of a crime falls far lower down the scale of policing concerns.

Many forces report drone incidents being reported being far lower than other anti social behaviour such as noise from quadbikers, fireworks and so on. So it's a legitimate question to know if millions have been spent on a CUAS such as AUDS or £10,000s on Aeroscope.

Also if you are set on saying this information is so crucially important as to affect national security then the IOPC need to be involved as officers have already put such information in the public domain. https://www.heliguy.com/blog/2019/07/17/...

So could you clarify if this truly is a matter of national security being breached by police officers or if this was an unnecessary blocking of the FOI Act?

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,

I Hudson

Dear Freedom of Information,

Please confirm you've received my request for an internal review of this FOI: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours sincerely,

I Hudson

Dear Freedom of Information,

I am withdrawing this request given a number of factors:

1) The Detective Constables from the professional standards department dealing with this FOI have clearly decided they're not going to reply thus preventing this request from being internally reviewed.

2) On reflection I agree with the Detective Constables that putting information about the CUAS forces use into the public domain can aid criminals and terrorists especially given the Aeroscope system being used only works on DJI drones and can be spoofed.

3) Police officers from the force have put the fact Aeroscope was used and even the fact it has over a 2.5 mile range into the public domain to aid the marketing efforts of a retailer. While this itself raises concerns given point 2 it's not for the FOI process to deal with this bad practice. Hopefully the professional standards officers will do their duty and see that officers don't engage in disclosing sensitive operational information to support the marketing efforts of private companies. For completeness the marketing material can be read here: https://www.heliguy.com/blog/2019/07/17/...

Yours sincerely,

I Hudson