In light of Plebgate how much do your PSD investigate the veracity of an officers account after a complaint?

The request was successful.

Dear Hampshire Constabulary,

In light of Plebgate do the Hampshire Constabulary record instances where Officers have been accused of manipulating evidence? Beyond, asking an Officer if he is telling the truth, how do Hampshire PSD prove the veracity of an Officers statement? It is clear from Mr. Mitchell's incident Officer's do collude to support each other and from cases like Hillsborough that statements can also be falsified. Many high profile cases show witnesses can be asked to support an Officers statement. For the general public without the resources of Mr. Mitchell, in less serious cases without the profile of Hillsborough. The Public all over the nation need to know if the PSD department are prepared to do more than just ask a Policeman if his statement is true. Particularly if evidence like CCTV footage or Mobile phone texts from another party are discrepant to an Officers account. Do Hampshire PSD expect these things to be investigated? If not, why not? To say each case is different is a cop out as I am asking simply if conflicting evidence exists, should the Investigating Officer investigate it, or does this only happen in high profile cases. If someone is shown to have lied either as an Officer or about an Officers account. Should they not be arrested as in Plebgate? Or is this only for high profile cases? Or not something Hampshire Police would do?

Yours faithfully,

Philip Reynolds

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

Dear Philip Reynolds
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: HC/002568/12
 
The following request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
was received by the Freedom of Information Section at Hampshire
Constabulary:
 
In light of Plebgate do the Hampshire Constabulary record instances  where
Officers have been accused of manipulating evidence? Beyond, asking an
Officer if he is telling the truth, how do Hampshire PSD prove the
veracity of an Officers statement? It is clear from Mr. Mitchell's
incident Officer's do collude to support each other and from cases like
Hillsborough that statements can also be falsified. Many high profile
cases show witnesses can be asked to support an Officers statement. For
the general public without the resources of Mr. Mitchell, in less serious
cases without the profile of Hillsborough. The Public all over the nation
need to know if the PSD department are prepared to do more than just ask a
Policeman if his statement is true. Particularly if evidence like CCTV
footage or Mobile phone texts from another party are discrepant to an
Officers account. Do Hampshire PSD expect these things to be investigated?
If not, why not? To say each case is different is a cop out as I am asking
simply if conflicting evidence exists, should the Investigating Officer
investigate it, or does this only happen in high profile cases. If someone
is shown to have lied either as an Officer or about an Officers account.
Should they not be arrested as in Plebgate? Or is this only for high
profile cases? Or not something Hampshire Police would do?
 
Your request will be considered in accordance with the legislation and you
will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days,
subject to the provisions of the Act.  In the unlikely event that
Hampshire Constabulary is unable to meet the 20 working day deadline, you
will be informed as soon as possible and given a revised time-scale for
response.
 
To be accepted, any clarification(s) to your request must be submitted in
writing directly to the FOI Team at Hampshire Constabulary. 
 
If your request requires either full or partial transference to another
public authority, you will be informed.  Should you have any further
enquiries concerning this matter, please write or contact Rebecca Warhurst
on telephone number 01962 814789 quoting the reference number above.
 
Kind regards
 
Sarah Seldon | Public Access
Joint Information Management Unit | Hampshire Constabulary & Thames Valley
Police
Telephone 01962 871541 | Internal 79-2128
Address | Police Headquarters, West Hill, Romsey Road, Winchester,
Hampshire SO22 5DB
 

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Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

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Rebecca Warhurst | Public Access Manager
Joint Information Management Unit | Hampshire Constabulary & Thames Valley
Police
Telephone 01962 814789 | Internal 79 1765
Address Hampshire Constabulary Police HQ, West Hill, Romsey Road,
Winchester, SO22 5DB
 
 
 

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Philip Reynolds

Dear Hampshire Constabulary,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Hampshire Constabulary's handling of my FOI request 'In light of Plebgate how much do your PSD investigate the veracity of an officers account after a complaint?'.

I do not feel it was appropriate to aggregate this request.

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

Yours faithfully,

Philip Reynolds

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

 
Mr Reynolds
 
I refer to your e-mail below requesting a review of your recent FOI
request.
 
Please can you provide some clarification on the reasons for your appeal,
as although your requests were aggregated, the information requested was
actually supplied. 
 
Kind Regards
 
Jason Russell | Senior Manager for Public Access
Joint Information Management Unit | Hampshire Constabulary & Thames Valley
Police
Telephone 01962 871014 | Internal 79 1228 
Address Police Headquarters, West Hill, Winchester, SO22 5DB
 
Information Management Helpdesk: 
Hampshire: [1][email address] / 01962
871541 (internal 79 2128)
Thames Valley: [2][email address] /
01865 846329 (internal 700 6329)
 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
From: Philip Reynolds [[FOI #143002 email]]
Sent: 02 March 2013 00:14
To: FOI Mailbox
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - In light of
Plebgate how much do your PSD investigate the veracity of an officers
account after a complaint?
 
     Dear Hampshire Constabulary,
 
     Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
     Information reviews.
 
     I am writing to request an internal review of Hampshire
     Constabulary's handling of my FOI request 'In light of Plebgate how
     much do your PSD investigate the veracity of an officers account
     after a complaint?'.
 
     I do not feel it was appropriate to aggregate this request.
 
     A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
     available on the Internet at this address:
    
[3]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/in...
 
     Yours faithfully,
 
     Philip Reynolds
 
 
 
     -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
     [FOI #143002 email]
 
     Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
     published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
     [4]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offic...
 
     If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your
     web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
 
    

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Philip Reynolds

Dear Hampshire Constabulary,

This is the annotation I left on the aggregated partially successful request. The part that was partially successful was the roles of the PSD and some names.

left an annotation (27 January 2013)

I understand this has been aggregated with my other request in terms of how the PSD investigate Police Officers where conflicting accounts of incidents they are involved in exist. For instance a person giving the Police one account of what happened when the Police were present and another to others about what happened involving the Police when the Police were not. It is after all obvious a person might give a different account and in light of plebgate, Hillsborough, Duggan etc. the veracity of one or multiple officers has to been questioned if someone has a written, texted or filmed account that varies from the statement to the Police. As I asked is that only for high profile cases, it did for instance take decades for truth to out with Hillsborough.

I do not feel this part was addressed at all, perhaps I am missing something?

Yours faithfully,

Philip Reynolds

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

Mr Reynolds

I refer to your e-mail below. Unfortunately I am still unclear on what aspect you are actually appealing. We have provided a response and were of the view that this gave you with the clarification required. No information has been held back in trying to answer the broad nature of your request.

Kind Regards

Jason Russell | Senior Manager for Public Access
Joint Information Management Unit | Hampshire Constabulary & Thames Valley Police
Telephone 01962 871014 | Internal 79 1228
Address Police Headquarters, West Hill, Winchester, SO22 5DB

Information Management Helpdesk:
Hampshire: [email address] / 01962 871541 (internal 79 2128)
Thames Valley: [email address] / 01865 846329 (internal 700 6329)

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Dear Mr Russell,

You may consider the question answered; however, I do not. Instead I believe the reply does anything but answer my question and is instead evasive to the extreme. It in my opinion further highlights the lack of accountability the Police have to the general public. When asked a straight question a straight reply is not given.

Yours faithfully,

Philip Reynolds

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

 
Mr Reynolds
 
I refer to your latest e-mail below.  Can you please outline what
information you were expecting.  Are you actually looking for a copy of
any policies we hold on this subject matter.  You need to be aware that
Freedom of Information relates to information held, it does not require us
to give opinions or answer specific questions unless they relate to
information held by the force.
 
Kind regards
 
Jason Russell | Senior Manager for Public Access
Joint Information Management Unit | Hampshire Constabulary & Thames Valley
Police
Telephone 01962 871014 | Internal 79 1228 
Address Police Headquarters, West Hill, Winchester, SO22 5DB
 
Information Management Helpdesk: 
Hampshire: [1][email address] / 01962
871541 (internal 79 2128)
Thames Valley: [2][email address] /
01865 846329 (internal 700 6329)
 

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Dear Hampshire Constabulary,

What do I expect? To have described to me how when an Officers account of an incident is investigated, for instance hypothetically if an individual had conflicting evidence and a witness had stated conflicting accounts of an Officers behavour would this be examined or would the Officers word be taken on face value. Does the officer have to co-operate? It often seems misdirection, falsifying figures, deception, fabrication, destroying evidence etc. is rampant when Police are accused of anything and all enquiries into police corruption seem to run aground or fail miserably due to non-co-operation' which effectively brings such investigations to a grinding halt with nowhere to go. This might be as simple as refusing to interview someone or ask why they have given different accounts to different people or not wanting to offer up information. How does Hampshire get round this?

Yours faithfully,

Philip Reynolds

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

Mr Reynolds

Does the attached document available via the link below assist with your FOI request? I believe this may contain the clarification you require.

http://www.nypolfed.org.uk/assets/upload...

Jason Russell | Senior Manager for Public Access
Joint Information Management Unit | Hampshire Constabulary & Thames Valley Police
Telephone 01962 871014 | Internal 79 1228
Address Police Headquarters, West Hill, Winchester, SO22 5DB

Information Management Helpdesk:
Hampshire: [email address] / 01962 871541 (internal 79 2128)
Thames Valley: [email address] / 01865 846329 (internal 700 6329)

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Dear Hampshire Constabulary,

I will read it and let you know if it answers my question, it may of course lead to further questions on how you monitor implementation etc.

Yours faithfully,

Philip Reynolds