Section 12, Police Reform Act

This request has been withdrawn by the person who made it.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

Dear Norfolk Constabulary,

The Police Reform Act 2002, places restrictions on who can make formal a complaint about police conduct, in some cases it prevents serving officers and staff from making formal complaints. Where a serving member of staff wishes to make a complaint, often the only option open to them is to pursue any issue internally, a process which ultimately is under the discretion and control of the Chief Constable.

" The PRA defines who might be considered to be adversely affected by the conduct or who may have witnessed the conduct. Pursuant to section 12(3), a person may only fall into the “adversely affected” category if;

(a) They were physically present, or sufficiently nearby when the conduct took place or the effects occurred that they were able to see or hear the conduct or its affects, or

(b) The adverse effect was attributed to, or was aggravated by the fact that the person in relation to whom the conduct took place was already known to them.

"Pursuant to section 12(5) of the PRA, a person can be taken to have witnessed the conduct only if:
(a) they acquired knowledge of the conduct in a manner which would make them a competent witness capable of giving admissible evidence of that conduct in criminal proceedings; or
(b) that they have in their possession or control, anything which would in any such proceedings constitute admissible evidence of the alleged conduct.

The legislation also prevents former officers in certain circumstances from pursuing a complaint as a member of the public if the conduct subject to the complaint took place at a time when they were serving under the direction and control of the same Chief Officer or were a serving police officer at the time of the alleged conduct or at the time when the adverse effects took place or was witnessed (Section 29(4) of PRA).

In some cases 'Whistle-blowers' have been silenced by the application of Section 12, leaving serious matters unchallenged. I have personal experience of being blocked from referring serious allegations of potentially criminal conduct by senior police officers, due to the application of Section 12.

In order to ascertain whether my experience is limited to a single police force or whether the problem is more widespread, I would like to request the following information.

1. The number of complaints made to your Professional Standards Unit, but not formally recorded or proceeded with under the formal complaints procedures, due to the application of Section 12, PRA during the period March 2016 - March 2019.

2. The number of complaints if any, which although could have been excluded under Section 12, were nevertheless were treated as formal complaints and dealt with under the formal complaints procedures, during the period March 2016 - March 2019.

Should you require any clarification please let me know.

Yours faithfully,

Mr L. Anderson

Freedom Of Information (Norfolk), Norfolk Constabulary

Thank you for your email. Emails to this inbox will be monitored between 0800hrs and 1630hrs, Monday to Friday.

For non-emergency calls to Norfolk Constabulary please use the 101 telephone number.

In the case of an emergency, please dial 999.

Freedom Of Information (Norfolk), Norfolk Constabulary

Dear Mr Anderson,

Our ref: FOI 001071/19

Please accept this email as confirmation that your request for information has been received.

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 Norfolk 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.

We anticipate being able to provide you with a response by 15/04/2019.

A full copy of the Freedom of Information legislation is available online via the website:
https://imsva91-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/w...

Should you need to discuss this further please contact us on the details above.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Norfolk Constabulary.

Yours sincerely,

 
Nina Moore
Freedom of Information Researcher
Norfolk Constabulary
OCC, Jubilee House,  Falconer's Chase,
Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 0WW.
Tel:  01953 425699 ext 2804 
https://imsva91-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/w...

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom Of Information (Norfolk),

Due to some ambiguities within he request I have made I would like to withdraw this request, my apologies for any inconvenience.

Yours sincerely,

Mr L. Anderson