planned Terrorist attacks

The request was refused by Northumbria Police.

Dear Northumbria Police,

Please could you enlighten me under the freedom of information act

how many planned Terrorist attacks on emergency service personnel or buildings
have been thwarted/stopped by Security Services and or Police in your area Northumbria
within the last five years

Yours faithfully,

Barry Smith

Freedom of Information Mailbox, 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 email dated 8 December 2020 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 at the time of a request, by a Public Authority
(including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

 

You asked:

 

how many planned Terrorist attacks on emergency service personnel or
buildings have been thwarted/stopped by Security Services and or Police in
your area Northumbria within the last five years

 

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

 

Northumbria Police will neither confirm nor deny any information is held
with regards to this submission and in doing so will rely on the following
exemptions.

 

Section 23(5) Information supplied by or concerning certain Security
Bodies

Section 24(2) National Security

Section 31(3) Law Enforcement

Harm in Confirming or Denying that Information is held

 

Any release under FOIA is a disclosure to the world, not just to the
individual making the request.  To confirm or not that information is held
pertinent to this request would reveal whether or not Northumbria Police
has had any planned terrorist attacks targeting emergency service
personnel and buildings thwarted within the last five year period by
either the Security Services or the Police.

 

Police forces work in conjunction with other agencies and information is
freely shared in line with information sharing protocols.  Modern day
policing is intelligence led and this is particularly pertinent with
regard to both law enforcement and national security.  The public expect
police forces to use all powers and tactics available to them to prevent
and detect crime or disorder and maintain public safety. 

 

The prevention and detection of crime is the foundation upon which
policing is built and the threat from terrorism cannot be ignored.  It is
generally recognised that the international security landscape is
increasingly complex and unpredictable.  The current [1]UK threat level
from international terrorism, based on intelligence, is assessed as
‘Severe’ which means that a terrorist attack is highly likely.

 

In order to counter criminal and terrorist behaviour, it is vital that the
police have the ability to work together, where necessary covertly, to
obtain intelligence within current legislative frameworks to assist in the
investigative process to ensure the successful arrest and prosecution of
offenders who commit or plan to commit acts of terrorism. 

 

To achieve this goal, it is vitally important that information sharing
takes place between police officers, members of the public, police forces
as well as other security law enforcement bodies within the
United Kingdom.  Such an action would support counter-terrorism measures
in the fight to deprive terrorist networks of their ability to commit
crime. 

 

The impact of providing information under FOI which aids in identifying
whether there have been thwarted terrorist attacks on emergency service
personnel or buildings or not would provide those intent on committing
criminal or terrorist acts with valuable information as to where the
police are targeting their investigations.  If there had or hadn’t been
any thwarted attacks, confirmation or denial would undermine the effective
delivery of operational law enforcement by highlighting which areas have
or have not received police attention.  Furthermore, intelligence would be
weakened thereby undermining national security and leaving the United
Kingdom at risk of more terrorist attack. 

 

Public Interest Considerations

 

Section 24(2) National Security

 

Factors favouring complying with Section 1(1)(a) confirming that
information is held

 

The public are entitled to know how public funds are spent and resources
distributed within an area of policing, particularly with regard to how
the police investigate terrorist atrocities.  To confirm whether any
information exists would enable the general public to hold Northumbria
Police  to account in relation to how they respond and resource counter
terrorism operations.

 

Furthermore, confirmation or denial may improve public debate and assist
the public to take steps to protect themselves.

 

Factors against complying with Section 1(1)(a)

 

Taking into account the current security climate within the United
Kingdom, no information which may aid a terrorist should be disclosed.  To
what extent this information may aid a terrorist is unknown, but it is
clear that it will have an impact on a force’s ability to monitor
terrorist activity.

 

The public entrust the Police Service to make appropriate decisions with
regard to their safety and protection.  The only way of reducing risk is
to be cautious with what is placed into the public domain.

 

The cumulative effect of terrorists gathering information from various
sources would build a picture of vulnerabilities within certain scenarios,
such as thwarted planned terrorist attacks.  The more information
disclosed over time will provide a more detailed account of the tactical
infrastructure of not only a force area but also the country as a whole.

 

Any incident that results from such a disclosure would by default affect
National Security. 

 

Other organisations outside the Police Service are also widely engaged in
targeting terrorism, therefore confirmation or denial as to whether
information exists relevant to this request would harm the close
relationship that exists with such organisations where trust and
confidence has been built up.

 

Section 31(3) Law Enforcement

 

Factors favouring complying with Section 1(1)(a) confirming information is
held

 

There is information within the public domain, such as information on
[2]international terrorism on the MI5 website and this in itself favours
confirming information is held.

 

Factors against complying with Section 1(1)() neither confirming nor
denying that information is held

 

Northumbria Police has a duty of care to the community at large and public
safety is of paramount importance.  If an FOI disclosure revealed
information to the world (by citing an exemption or stating no information
held) that would undermine the security of the national infrastructure,
offenders, including terrorist organisations, could use this to their
advantage which would compromise public safety and more worryingly
encourage offenders to carry out further crimes.

 

By its very nature, information relating to any counter terrorist
operation undoubtedly undermines National Security.  Under FOI there is a
requirement to comply with Section 1(1)(a) and confirm what information is
held.  In some cases it is that confirmation, or not, which could disclose
facts harmful to members of the public, police officers, the Government
and its employees. 

 

 

Balancing Test

 

The points above highlight the merits of confirming, or denying, whether
any information pertinent to this request exists.  The security of the
country is of paramount importance and the Police Service is charged with
enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the
communities we serve.  As part of that policing purpose, various
operations with other law enforcement bodies may or may not be ongoing. 
The Police Service will never divulge whether or not information is held
if to do so would place the safety of individual(s) at risk or undermine
national security.

 

Whilst there is a public interest in appropriately and effectively
engaging with the threat from criminals, there is a very strong public
interest in safeguarding National Security.  As much as there is a public
interest in knowing that policing activity is appropriate and balanced in
matters of National Security, this will only be overridden in exception
circumstances.

 

The public entrust the Police Service to make appropriate decisions with
regard to their safety and protection and the only way of reducing risk is
to be cautious with any information that is released.  Confirming or
denying whether counter terrorist attacks have or haven’t taken place
would definitely reveal police activity and would assist those intent on
causing harm.  Any incident that results from confirmation or denial
would, by default, affect National Security.

 

Therefore, at this moment in time, it is our opinion that for these issues
the balance test for confirming, nor denying, that information is held is
made out. 

 

No inference can be taken from this refusal that information does or does
not exist. 

 

 

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a
specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an
indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another.
Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the
procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses
between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative
purposes.

 

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.

 

You may be interested to know that Northumbria Police routinely publish
information via the Disclosure Log. The aim of the Disclosure Log is to
promote openness and transparency by voluntarily placing information into
the public arena.

 

The Disclosure Log contains copies of some of the information that has
been disclosed by Northumbria Police in response to requests made under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Whilst it is not possible to publish all responses we will endeavour to
publish those where we feel that the information disclosed is in the wider
public interest.

 

The Disclosure Log will be updated once responses have been sent to the
requester.

 

I have provided the relevant link below.

 

[3]https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/about...

 

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, attached.

 

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

 

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.mi5.gov.uk/threat-levels
2. https://www.mi5.gov.uk/counter-terrorism
3. https://beta.northumbria.police.uk/about...