Form of the Instruction to your digital forennsic unit

The request was refused by Essex Police.

Dear Essex Police,

Please accept my apologies for the length of this request. It does not imply a large amount of work.

My broad objective is to understand the nature of the instructions relative to the investigation of the making/possession/ distribution of indecent images of children that are given by your team responsible for this area of crime to your internal digital forensic laboratory when the team have recovered suspect digital devices.

Unfortunately I do not know what form these instruction take but here are a couple of possibilities.

1. There is a written, standing instruction that covers all jobs from the team to the lab and then the team add special instructions in the case where there are special circumstances.

2. There is an internal standard operating procedure that governs the work of the lab and this is known to the team. The team then simply ask the lab to apply the standard operating procedure.

There are many ways that a set of instructions could be passed between the team and the lab and I do not know what form they take in Essex Police, but it is *that* which I want to know.

Allow me to clarify that I need the overview. I mean by this, I need to understand the entirety of what the lab consider their duties to be when instructed by the team and, where they exist, the documents that are used to spell these duties out.

Of course, given that the lab is internal to Essex Police it is quite possible that there are no governing documents at all and that both the team and the lab have a an unwrittem understanding of what is required. If that is the case then please simply tell me so.

Regards

Adrian Mutimer

Info Rights Freedom Essex, Essex Police

Thank you for your communication, your enquiry will be dealt with within
our core office hours 

Essex Police have developed a publication strategy, our aim is to reduce
the demand within the FOI Department and to provide knowledge to the
public to include previous and combined FOI requests together with
relevant links and information. 

 

Please visit this area of our website before submitting FOI requests as
information may already be available.  

[1]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac...

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
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References

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Info Rights Freedom Essex, Essex Police

1 Attachment

Thank you for your request for information, which has been logged under
the above reference number.  

 

Essex Police will endeavour to respond to your application within 20
working days, as set out within the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).  If a time extension is to be applied to your request, you will be
informed; the reason for the extension will also be provided.  

 

Please note that Essex Police may refuse detailed or multiple requests
that are submitted at the same time, as per [1]Section 14 of the FOIA.
Furthermore, if the information sought is already publicly available, you
may be redirected to our publication scheme:
[2]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac... or other
official links, such as the [3]PFCC, [4]Home Office or the [5]Office for
National Statistics. 

 

Should you need to contact us whilst your information request is being
processed, please email [6][Essex Police request email], quoting
the above reference, and a member of the team will assist. 

 

Kind regards 

 

 

FOI Team | Information Management Department | Information Rights Section
| Essex Police

Telephone: 101 | Email: [7][Essex Police request email]

Address: Information Management Department, Information Rights Section,
Essex Police HQ, PO Box 2, Chelmsford CM2 6DA 

 

For more information about your information rights, or how Essex Police
use your personal data please visit our Privacy Notice via the Essex
Police website [8]https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/fpnessex...

 

show quoted sections

Info Rights Freedom Essex, Essex Police

1 Attachment

Thank you for your Freedom of information (FOI) request logged under the
above reference. 

  

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties on public
authorities:   

  

Unless exemptions apply, the first duty ([1]Section 1(1)(a) of FOIA) is to
confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held.  

The second duty ([2]Section 1(1)(b) of the FOIA) is to disclose
information that has been confirmed as being held.   

However, where exemptions are relied upon ([3]Section 17(5) of FOIA) there
is a requirement to provide the applicant with an explanation either: 

a) stating the fact  

b) detailing the exemption(s) in question and 

c) why the exemption applies (if not apparent). 

  

Information Request

 

My broad objective is to understand the nature of the instructions
relative to the investigation of the making/possession/ distribution of
indecent images of children that are given by your team responsible for
this area of crime to your internal digital forensic laboratory when the
team have recovered suspect digital devices.

Unfortunately I do not know what form these instruction take but here are
a couple of possibilities.

1. There is a written, standing instruction that covers all jobs from the
team to the lab and then the team add special instructions in the case
where there are special circumstances.

2. There is an internal standard operating procedure that governs the work
of the lab and this is known to the team. The team then simply ask the lab
to apply the standard operating procedure.

There are many ways that a set of instructions could be passed between the
team and the lab and I do not know what form they take in Essex Police,
but it is *that* which I want to know.

Allow me to clarify that I need the overview. I mean by this, I need to
understand the entirety of what the lab consider their duties to be when
instructed by the team and, where they exist, the documents that are used
to spell these duties out.

Of course, given that the lab is internal to Essex Police it is quite
possible that there are no governing documents at all and that both the
team and the lab have a an unwrittem understanding of what is required. If
that is the case then please simply tell me so.

 

FOI Duty  

First Duty – Essex Police holds some of the information relating to your
request 

Second Duty – See below 

Fact - It is not possible to extract and verify all the data in your
request 

Exemption - [4]Section 12(1) 

Reasoning – see below explanation as previously replied in application
17250

 

Essex Police are unable to respond to this request as the information
regarding the processing instructions, is not held in a readily accessible
format. We have a digital submissions form where instructions are entered
into a box named ‘work required’. Each case is different and requires
different instructions based on the individual circumstances. To retrieve
every digital forensic case instruction would take considerable resource
to achieve and, therefore, is regarded as excessive and would exceed the
time and cost limits under the Act.

 

Essex Police trusts that the information provided is of assistance.  Thank
you for your interest in Essex Police. 

 

FOI Team | Information Management Department | Information Rights Section
| Essex Police 

Telephone: 101 | Email: [5][Essex Police request email] 

Address: Information Management Department, Information Rights Section,
Essex Police HQ, PO Box 2, Chelmsford CM2 6DA   

  

For more information about your information rights, or how Essex Police
use your personal data please visit our Privacy Notice via the Essex
Police website
[6]https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/fpnessex...

  

Essex Police have developed a publication strategy, our aim is to reduce
the demand within the FOI Department and to provide knowledge to the
public to include previous and combined FOI requests together with
relevant links and information. Please visit this area of our website
before submitting FOI requests as information may already be available.
[7]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac...

 

Please note, if you require further information or wish to resubmit a
request, please refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s
website regarding submission of effective requests: [8]How to access
information from a public body | ICO 

  

Your right to complain 

 

If you feel your request has not been properly handled, or you are
otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you have the right
to complain.  

 

Under [9]Section 17(7)(a)(b) FOIA complaints should be submitted within 20
working days from the date of this response and should be addressed to the
Information Rights Manager at the above address or by email to:
[10][Essex Police request email] 

  

We will conduct a review to investigate your complaint and endeavour to
reply within 20 working days. Please explain which aspect of the
disclosure you are not satisfied with, and if your complaint concerns the
decision to apply an exemption, please specify if you wish an internal
review to take place and why you believe the exemption does not apply.  

  

If you are still dissatisfied following our review, you have the right
under the [11]Section 50 FOIA  to complain directly to the Information
Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information
Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints
procedures provided by Essex Police. 

  

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [12]Home | ICO 

 

 

 

 

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
civil proceedings. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that
any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of the contents of this
information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.
For further information regarding Kent Police’s or Essex Police’s use of
personal data please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/privacy/ or
https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/privacy/. Additionally for our Terms and
Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...

References

Visible links
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2. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/200...
3. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/200...
4. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/200...
5. mailto:[Essex Police request email]
6. https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/fpnessex...
7. https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac...
8. https://www.ico.org.uk/
9. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/200...
10. mailto:info.rights.freedom@essex.%20police.uk
11. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/200...
12. https://www.ico.org.uk/