Firearms officers

This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

9th April 2024

Dear Ms Wilde,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 9th April
2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
on 9th April 2024.  I note you seek access to the following information:

Firearms Officers

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,

ARW
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn

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References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
2. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

16th April 2024

Dear Ms Wilde,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 9th April
2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
on 9th April 2024.  I note you seek access to the following information:

Firearms Officers

To enable the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to meet your
request could you please provide further clarification on the following:

In your request there is mention of “firearms officers” and
“ticket/accreditation to carry firearms”, please could you clarify what is
meant in each case. To assist, please note that officers with the service
routinely carry a firearm.

You should be aware that the 20 day legislative time limit dictated by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been stopped. Once we receive
clarification of your request a new 20 working day time limit will
commence.

Please send clarification of your request by writing to Corporate
Information Branch, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5 6LE or by
email to [email address]. Alternatively, if you wish to discuss your
request or have any additional queries you can contact the Corporate
Information Branch on 028 9070 0164.

Yours sincerely,

Arthur
Corporate Information Branch
PSNI HQ Brooklyn

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This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

18th April 2024

Dear Ms Wilde,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 9th April
2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
on 9th April 2024.  I note you seek access to the following information:

Firearms Officers

To enable the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to meet your
request could you please provide further clarification on the following;

PSNI can advise all PSNI Officers are authorised to carry a firearm as
part of their duties.

Therefore, can you please confirm are you requesting information about all
police officers or specifically the number of officers in PSNI ARU (Armed
Response Unit)?

You should be aware that the 20 day legislative time limit dictated by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been stopped. Once we receive
clarification of your request a new 20 working day time limit will
commence.

Please send clarification of your request by writing to Corporate
Information Branch, PSNI Headquarters, 65 Knock Road Belfast BT5 6LE or by
email to [email address]. Alternatively, if you wish to discuss your
request or have any additional queries you can contact the Corporate
Information Branch on 028 9070 0164.

Yours sincerely,

Rudi

FOI Decision Maker

Corporate Information Branch

PSNI HQ Brooklyn

Office Number: 02890700164

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This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

17th May 2024

Dear Ms Wilde,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 9th April
2024 which we received on 9th April 2024 concerning:

Firearms Officers

I am writing to advise you that the time limit for responding to your
request for information needs to be extended.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no
later than 20 working days after receiving your request.  We must consider
firstly whether we can comply with Section (1)(1)(a) of the Act which is
our duty to confirm whether or not the information requested is held and
secondly we must comply with Section (1)(1)(b), which is the provision of
such information.  However, when a qualified exemption applies either to
the confirmation or denial or the information provision and the public
interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time for response to be
longer than 20 working days, if the balance of such public interest test
is undetermined.

In this case we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of
public interest lies in respect of either of the above obligations.  We
estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a
decision on where the balance lies.  Therefore, we plan to let you have a
response by 14 June 2024. If it appears that it will take longer than this
to reach a conclusion, you will be kept informed.

The specific exemption(s) which apply in relation to your request is/are:

Section 31 – Law Enforcement

If you have any queries regarding your request please do not hesitate to
contact me on 028 9070 0164. When contacting the Corporate Information
Branch, please quote the reference number listed at the beginning of this
email.

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
([1]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 his
discretion.

Yours sincerely,

Rudi

FOI Decision Maker

Corporate Information Branch

PSNI HQ Brooklyn

Office Number: 02890700164

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

This e-mail has been marked OFFICIAL [PUBLIC];

Subject: FOI-2024-01350
24th May 2024

Dear Ms Wilde,

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

I write in connection with your request for information dated 9th April
2024 which was received by the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 9th
April 2024 concerning:

Firearms Officers

Please find attached response to your request.

Yours sincerely,

Rudi

FOI Decision Maker

Corporate Information Branch

PSNI HQ Brooklyn

Office Number: 02890700164

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