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Audio and video recording for own personal use?

W Hunter made this Freedom of Information request to Independent Office for Police Conduct This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

We're waiting for W Hunter (Account suspended) to read recent responses and update the status.

Dear Independent Office for Police Conduct,

Whilst viewing this https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/mi... news item on your website I saw that as part of your article stated in relation to PC Bengree:

"His mobile phone also contained videos and audio files made of policing interactions with members of the public which were recorded on a personal device without their knowledge or consent."

If the audio and visual files made on his phone were at the time of recording, intended for his own use and not collected on behalf of his employer then this is I believe lawful.

It is only if audio / visual recordings are made for someone other than the person making them, with the intention that others will be accessing them that the participants being so recorded must be informed of the fact.

It is only if legal authority to make records without notice is issued i.e. a surveillance warrant that recording on behalf of anyone but the actual operator would be allowed.

Please therefore provide any information you hold regarding the issue of audio and video recording on a personal device and any relevance to any law or statute or provide links to where this information can be found as the article appears to represent this as an offence without actually stating that as fact.

Yours faithfully,

W Hunter

!Request Info, Independent Office for Police Conduct

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!Request Info, Independent Office for Police Conduct

Dear W Hunter

Thank you for your correspondence to the IOPC in which you made a request for information. This request is being considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). We will now consult with the relevant department to gather the response to your request.

We propose to respond to you on or before the 29 March 2021 in line with the timescales prescribed by the FOIA.

While we are aiming to complete your request within that timeframe, it is possible that our response will be delayed as a result of our current working arrangements under the COVID-19 outbreak. We will keep you updated should we be unable to respond by the due date.

If you have any questions about this request please contact us. Please remember to quote reference number 1009080 in any future correspondence about this matter.

Yours sincerely

FOI and DPA Team
Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)
PO Box 473
Sale
Manchester
M33 0BW
Tel: 0300 020 0096
www.policeconduct.gov.uk
Follow us on Twitter at: @policeconduct
Find out how we handle your personal data.
The IOPC is proud to have achieved Customer Service Excellence accreditation​
We now regularly publish practical advice and guidance for handling complaints in our magazine FOCUS

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!Request Info, Independent Office for Police Conduct

Dear W Hunter

Thank you for your information request. You appear to be seeking general information regarding the legal position that applies to audio and video recordings made for personal use. This request seems to be motivated by your own interpretation of a press statement relating to an independent investigation, as you have stated that "... the article appears to represent this as an offence without actually stating that as fact."

It is not clear why you have made this interpretation. The article goes onto say that the officer in question was subject to a misconduct hearing, which takes place where there is a finding that an officer may have committed a serious breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour. At no point does the article state that a criminal offence has been committed.

Your request therefore seems to be seeking information to either support or disprove your own personal and unsubstantiated interpretation of the wording of a media article rather than to request information that we are reasonably likely to hold.

As such we do not hold information relevant to your request.

We should explain that the general right of access under FOIA applies only to recorded information which is held by the public authority at the time that it receives the request. It follows that a public authority is not required to retrieve or create any information that it does not already hold. For the same reason, there is no obligation to answer questions generally, express an opinion or enter into a discussion or debate unless a question can be answered from existing records.

Information as to the scope and interpretation of legal rules that may be relevant to personal use of audio and video recordings is available to you in the public domain via simple internet key word searches, as it is to any other individual who is seeking to understand the legal context of a particular set of circumstances.

Yours sincerely

FOI and DPA Team
Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)
PO Box 473
Sale
Manchester
M33 0BW
Tel: 0300 020 0096
www.policeconduct.gov.uk
Follow us on Twitter at: @policeconduct
Find out how we handle your personal data.
The IOPC is proud to have achieved Customer Service Excellence accreditation​
We now regularly publish practical advice and guidance for handling complaints in our magazine FOCUS

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Dear Independent Office for Police Conduct,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Independent Office for Police Conduct's handling of my FOI request 'Audio and video recording for own personal use?'.

The Author has again apparently interpreted my request as a general request for legal information rather than an enquiry regarding facts used within an "independent misconduct hearing, presided over by an independent legally qualified chair, an independent person appointed by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and a Police Superintendent, which took place 24 November - 4 December 2020."

In that enquiry it clearly specified that "The panel found PC Bengree’s conduct in audio and video recording members of the public," "was assessed as gross misconduct."

Since video recording members of the public without their permission or knowledge is not actually unlawful if undertaken for personal use, i.e. not on a paid or business basis, I am attempting to obtain any information which would clarify why, in this instance, video recording of members of the public would constitute gross misconduct.

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

Yours faithfully,

W Hunter

!Request Info, Independent Office for Police Conduct

This is an automated email please do not respond to it.
 
Thank you for your email.
 
If you have made a request for information to the IOPC, your email and any
attachments will be assessed, logged and forwarded onto the appropriate
department to prepare the response.
 
FOI & DPA Team
 
This message and its content may contain confidential, privileged or
copyright information. They are intended solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you received this message in error, you must not
disclose, copy, distribute or take any action which relies on the
contents. Instead, please inform the sender and then permanently delete
it. Any views or opinions expressed in this communication are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the IOPC. Only
specified staff are authorised to make binding agreements on behalf of the
IOPC by email. The IOPC accepts no responsibility for unauthorised
agreements reached with other employees or agents. The IOPC cannot
guarantee the security of this email or any attachments. While emails are
regularly scanned, the IOPC cannot take any liability for any virus that
may be transmitted with the internet. The IOPC communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law. Consequently, any email and or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff.

!Request Info, Independent Office for Police Conduct

Dear Mr Hunter

Thank you for your email. We will be conducting an internal review of our original FOIA response and expect to provide you with our findings on or before 29 April 2021.

While we are aiming to complete your request within that timeframe, it is possible that our response will be delayed as a result of our current working arrangements under the COVID-19 outbreak. We will keep you updated should we be unable to respond by the due date.

If you have any further queries regarding this matter, please contact us quoting reference number IR1009080.

Yours sincerely

FOI and DPA Team
Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) PO Box 473 Sale Manchester
M33 0BW
Tel: 0300 020 0096
www.policeconduct.gov.uk
Follow us on Twitter at: @policeconduct Find out how we handle your personal data.
The IOPC is proud to have achieved Customer Service Excellence accreditation We now regularly publish practical advice and guidance for handling complaints in our magazine FOCUS

show quoted sections

!Request Info, Independent Office for Police Conduct

Dear W Hunter

Thank you for your email and we apologise for the delay in response. You framed your email as a request for internal review, however our initial response was not a formal one under the terms of the FOIA. We made an operational decision to respond within our normal course of business given that your original request did not appear to be asking for information we would be reasonably expected to hold. Instead we assessed that you were seeking information to support your own interpretation of the wording of a media article and we therefore responded in line with our normal course of business.

The wording of your original information request was as follows: "provide any information you hold regarding the issue of audio and video recording on a personal device and any relevance to any law or statute or provide links to where this information can be found". As such we explained that the general right of access under FOIA applies only to recorded information which is held by the public authority at the time that it receives the request and that there is no obligation to answer questions generally, express an opinion or enter into a discussion or debate unless a question can be answered from existing records. We explained that information as to the scope and interpretation of legal rules that may be relevant to personal use of audio and video recordings is available to you in the public domain via simple internet key word searches, as it is to any other individual who is seeking to understand the legal context of a particular set of circumstances.

In your correspondence below you state that you were actually seeking the following: "I am attempting to obtain any information which would clarify why, in this instance, video recording of members of the public would constitute gross misconduct." These are two completely different questions. Effectively you seem to now be seeking the rationale of the independent panel that led them to assess the conduct in this case as 'gross misconduct'.

Gross misconduct means a breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour so serious that dismissal would be justified. Disciplinary proceedings are conducted by the police, in this case an independent panel, not the IOPC. As you are seeking information regarding the decision-making of the panel in this case, you would be advised to redirect your request. Some of the proceedings are conducted in public and some information regarding the proceedings may be published. The Metropolitan Police has a specific page notifying upcoming proceedings and publishing details of some that have taken place. This can be found here; https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-...

However there is no information relating to this particular hearing published on this page and you may therefore wish to redirect your request for information regarding the panel's decision, to the Metropolitan Police.

We hope you find this information helpful.

Yours sincerely

The FOI and DPA Team
Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)
PO Box 473
Sale
Manchester
M33 0BW
Tel: 0300 020 0096

www.policeconduct.gov.uk
Follow us on Twitter at: @policeconduct
Find out how we handle your personal data.
The IOPC is proud to have achieved Customer Service Excellence accreditation​
We now regularly publish practical advice and guidance for handling complaints in our magazine FOCUS

show quoted sections

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are W Hunter (Account suspended) please sign in and let everyone know.