Drug dealing telecommunications restriction orders

The request was refused by Essex Police.

Dear Essex Police,

Section 107 of the Digital Economy Act, which received royal assent on 27 April 2017, grants police forces and the National Crime Agency the right to apply to the courts to restrict or prevent the use of communications devices in connection with drug dealing offences.

Please provide:

The number of applications made for drug dealing telecommunications restriction orders between 27 April 2017 and 26 April 2018.

The number of applications for drug dealing telecommunications restriction orders which were granted between 27 April 2017 and 26 April 2018.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Wilding

Data FOI Essex,

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Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference.

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20
working days.  The Act does not specify a limit to the number of
information requests a public authority may receive or the number of
requests or questions an applicant may submit.  However, there are
exemptions in the Act that can apply and these include where the cost of
complying with the request would extend beyond the reasonable cost limit,
(currently 18 hours or £450), or if the request is otherwise manifestly
unreasonable in its scope or nature. 

 

Requests that ask a great many questions, or a number of detailed requests
submitted at the same time, may make it necessary for Essex Police to
refuse the requests wholly or in part. The exemption at s14 may be engaged
if the burden on the authority is increased through multiple requests on
differing subjects

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has responsibility for
providing oversight and guidance for the legislation and they have
produced advice for applicants on submitting effective requests.  Further
information can be found on the Commissioner’s website at
[1]www.ico.gov.uk specific information relating to submitting a request
can be found at:
[2]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...

                                                      

While we process your request, please take the time to consider the ICO’s
advice and whether you feel it may be beneficial to amend or refine your
request. Our team is happy to discuss your request with you and will be
able to provide advice as to what kind of information will be available
from Essex Police.

 

Kind regards

 

Jessica Casey

Information Officer

Data Protection & Freedom of Information

Information Management

Continuous Improvement

Essex Police Headquarters

External Tel: 101 ext 150030

E-Mail:[email address]

Fax: 01245 452256 (int: 150045)

Non Emergency Telephone Number: 101 

 

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D2F960.84E87850

 

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Dear Ms. Casey,

The time limit for complying with this request has now passed. Please could you provide a response?

Yours sincerely,

Mark Wilding

Data FOI Essex,

1 Attachment

Essex Police is currently dealing with an unprecedented increase in
requests for information under the Data Protection Act (Subject Access),
the Freedom of Information Act, and from Family Courts. The force is
working hard to develop longer-term solutions to keep pace with that
demand, but while we await those solutions to come in to effect it is
likely that some of our responses to information requests will not be as
swift as we and our requestors would like. Our focus will always be
protecting our public and the most vulnerable within our community, and
therefore, requests that fall into this category will be prioritised.

 

We apologise for any delays that you may experience in our responses to
you, and please be reassured that we are working very hard to reduce
delays in responses.

 

Kind regards

 

Information Rights Team

Information Management Department

Strategic Change Directorate

E-Mail:[email address]

[1]cid:image001.png@01D3E908.EC4D1080

 

 

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Data FOI Essex,

2 Attachments

Please accept our apologies with regard to the delay in responding to your
original request. This unit has had a substantial increase in FOI requests
which has resulted a delay to the service provided from this unit.

 

We have made enquiries in relation to your FOI submission and respond  as
follows,  

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties
on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at
Sec1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a
request is held. The second duty at Sec1(1)(b) is to disclose information
that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon
s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a)
states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states
(if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

In respect of your query:

 

Section 107 of the Digital Economy Act, which received royal assent on 27
April 2017, grants police forces and the National Crime Agency the right
to apply to the courts to restrict or prevent the use of communications
devices in connection with drug dealing offences.

 

Please provide:

 

The number of applications made for drug dealing telecommunications
restriction orders between 27 April 2017 and 26 April 2018.

 

The number of applications for drug dealing telecommunications restriction
orders which were granted between 27 April 2017 and 26 April 2018.

Having completed enquiries within Essex Police, we can neither confirm nor
deny that Essex Police holds any information in respect of your submission
as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act does not
apply by virtue of the following exemptions:

S23(5) Security Body

S31(3) Law Enforcement

 

Sections 23 and 31 are prejudice based qualified exemptions and there is a
requirement to articulate the harm that would be caused in confirming or
denying that the information is held as well as carrying out a public
interest test. 

 

Overall harm:

This is a new piece of legislation and information is available only from
the beginning of December. As such, only part year figures are available
at this stage.

 

Any release under FOI is a disclosure to the world, not just to the
individual making the request.

 

Police forces work in conjunction with other agencies and on a daily basis
information is freely shared in line with information sharing protocols.

 

Modern day policing is intelligence led and this is particularly pertinent
with regard to law enforcement.

 

To confirm or deny that information were held, at this stage, when only
part-year figures are available, would indicate the level of recent use of
this new technique.

 

It is likely that any use would relate either to a specific and on-going
investigation (given the immediate time-frame) or intelligence-led
activities (where individuals or groups are being monitored as a result of
intelligence) and where police believe the communications device is likely
to be used in connection with drug-dealing offences.

 

Either way, confirmation or denial of whether information is held is
likely to show whether or not intelligence-led activity is on-going,
potentially alerting individuals or gangs to the possibility that they
have been identified by your force and are potentially being monitored
with a view to an application being made to court in respect of a Drug
Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Orders application.

 

Alternatively, confirmation or denial that a figure is held for this
limited period of time may disclose into the public domain whether this
policing tactic has been used for a specific investigation.

 

Factors favouring confirmation or denial for S23

 

The public are entitled to know how public funds are spent and by
disclosing this information the public would be able to see where money is
being spent and know that forces and the NCA are doing as much as they can
to combat drug dealing offences.

 

Factors favouring neither confirming or denying of S23

 

Confirmation or denial of whether information is held is likely to show
whether or not intelligence-led activity is on-going, potentially alerting
individuals or gangs to the possibility that they have been identified by
Essex Police and are potentially being monitored with a view to an
application being made to court in respect of a Drug Dealing
Telecommunications Restriction Orders application.

 

Factors favouring confirmation or denial for S31

 

To confirm or deny that any other information is held would allow a
greater understanding to the public in respect of police and NCA
restriction or prevention on the use of communications devices in
connection with drug dealing offences and the prevalence of these orders
within Essex.  Therefore giving the public a better understanding of both
the extent of drug dealing within Essex and Essex Police’s prevention and
detection of such offences.

Improved public awareness may lead to more intelligence being submitted to
police about possible acts of drug dealing as members of the public will
be more observant to suspicious activity which in turn may result in a
reduction of crime. 

The Drug Dealing telecommunications Restriction Orders (DDTRO) 2017, came
into force on 7^th December 2017 (see below link), therefore, more
information can be found on the following link:

[1]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/...

Factors favouring neither confirming or denying of S31

 

The confirm or deny that the requested information is held could
compromise law enforcement tactics which would hinder the Police force’s
ability to prevent and detect crime. The threat of drug dealing will
increase as more crimes are committed as a result of criminals gaining
knowledge about the capabilities of individual forces and therefore the
public will be placed at a greater risk.

 

Balancing Test

 

The points above highlight the merits of confirming or denying the
requested information exists. 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, information is gathered which can
be highly sensitive relating to high profile investigative
activity. Police Service will never divulge whether or not any other
information is held if to do so would undermine law enforcement
capabilities, weakening the mechanisms used to monitor any type of
criminal activity.

 

In addition, any disclosure by Essex Police that places the security of
the country at risk, no matter how generic, would undermine any trust or
confidence individuals have in us, therefore, at this moment in time it is
our opinion that for these issues the balance test favours neither
confirming nor denying that any other information is held.

 

No inference can be drawn from this refusal that information is or isn’t
held.

 

Thank you for your interest in Essex Police.

 

Kind regards

 

Information Rights Team

Information Management Department

Strategic Change Directorate

E-Mail:[email address]

[2]cid:image001.png@01D3E908.EC4D1080

 

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