Drug Expert witness
Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,
Please treat the following as a request for information under the FOI legislation.
From the date of this request:
In the last 12 months,
How many warrants, that were carried out on premises under section 23 misuse of drugs act, resulted in a seizure of PRESCRIBED medication in the form of herbal Cannabis.
Of these seizures (if any) -
How many many seized medications were returned to the prescribed patient?
For any non returned Seizures,
How many have been held for up to 12months?
How many have been held for up to 6 months?
How many have been held for up to 3 months?
How many were returned to the prescribed patient within 3 months from the date of seizure?
In the last 12 months, for any warrant carried out on a premises under the misuse of drugs act, how many where attended by a Drugs Expert Witness (DEW)?
Does the PSNI have a Policy in place for when a DEW should be in attendance when carrying out a warrant under section 23 on a premises?
Do DEW's routinely attend, during warrants under the misuse of drugs act section 23, where the occupants are known by the PSNI to be prescribed Medical Cannabis?
Does the PSNI offer any training to its officers in regards to attending homes where there are known disabled people on the premises?
Does the PSNI have any policies in place in regards to same sex officers attending during warrants? I.e if a female is known to be present on a premises, does the PSNI have any policies in place to ensure a same sex officer is present upon entry to the premises?
Yours faithfully,
Chris Hamilton
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
2nd September 2024
Dear Mr. Hamilton,
FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000
I write in connection with your request for information dated 30th August
2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
on 30th August 2024. I note you seek access to the following information:
Drugs Expert Witness (DEW)
This request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. A response should be sent to you within 20 working
days. The Freedom of Information team will advise you in writing if there
are any delays in responding to your request and will keep you advised of
progress.
If your request is unclear and clarification is required the 20 day
legislative time limit dictated by the Freedom of Information Act 2000
will be stopped until we receive clarification of your request. The ICO
guidance at paragraph 40 of the link below sets out that the clock begins
anew the day after the clarification is received. It states:
“If the requester subsequently provides enough detail to enable the
authority to identify and locate the information, then the authority must
respond to the clarified request within a new 20 working day time limit
with the ‘clock’ starting the day after it receives the required
clarification.“
The link for this is:
[1]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
In the event where the cost of complying with the request would exceed the
“appropriate level”, which is fixed at £450, as stated in the Freedom of
Information Regulations 2004, it is the policy of the PSNI to close the
request. You will however be notified of this decision and given an
opportunity to refine and resubmit the request.
If your request requires either full or partial transference to another
public authority in order to answer your request again, you will be
notified.
If you have any queries regarding your request please write to the
Corporate Information Branch via email or the address below. Please
remember to quote the reference number listed above in any future
communications with the Corporate Information Branch.
If you are dissatisfied in any way with the handling of your request, you
have the right to request a review. You should do this as soon as possible
or in any case within two months of the date of issue of this letter. In
the event that you require a review to be undertaken, you can do so by
writing to the Corporate Information Manager, Corporate Information
Branch, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road, Belfast, BT5 6LE or by emailing
[email address].
If, following an Internal Review carried out by an independent decision
maker, you remain unhappy about how your request has been handled you have
the right to apply in writing to the Information Commissioner at
‘Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. There are a number of other platforms you can use to
contact the ICO and these can be found on the ICO’s website at the
following link: Make a complaint | ICO
([2]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).
In most circumstances, the Information Commissioner will not investigate a
complaint unless an internal review procedure has been carried out
however, the Commissioner has the option to investigate the matter at
their discretion.
Yours sincerely,
David
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
References
Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
2. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Dear Police Service of Northern Ireland,
You have missed the legislative 20 day deadline to respond to my request. Please respond as a matter of urgency.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Hamilton
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
Subject: FOI-2024-03099
30th September 2024
Dear Mr. Hamilton,
FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000
I write in connection with your request for information dated 30th August
2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 30th
August 2024 concerning:
Drugs Expert Witness (DEW)
While today is the final day of the statutory timescale, I regret to
inform you the Police Service of Northern Ireland have experienced a delay
and will not be able to respond to your request within the statutory
timescale.
I am the Decision Maker currently processing your request and
unfortunately on this occasion the PSNI will be unable to meet this time
limit.
To provide an update on your request, whilst I can assure you that it is
being processed, I am unable to provide a timeframe for the completion of
your request. However, if there are going to be any further delays I will
remain in contact with you.
May I apologise for any inconvenience caused and if you have any queries
regarding your request please do not hesitate to contact me via the email
below. When contacting the Corporate Information Branch, please quote the
reference number listed at the beginning of this email.
Your patience in this process is appreciated and again please accept our
apologies for the delay.
Yours sincerely,
Anna
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
[1][email address]
This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];
Subject: FOI-2024-03099
14^th October 2024
Dear Mr. Chris Hamilton,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000
I refer to your request for information dated 30th August 2024 which was
received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 30th August 2024
concerning:
Drugs Expert Witness (DEW)
Please find attached response to your request.
Yours sincerely
Anna
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn
02890700164
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