Dear Mr. Roberts

Thank you for your request below, received by Warwickshire Police and West
Mercia Police on 8 March 2018.

1. The location of all buildings currently owned or occupied by your
organisation.

2. The tenure of the building i.e. freehold or leasehold.

3. What departments are based at each location i.e. Headquarters,
Neighbourhood Policing, Investigations.

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.  You will receive a response within the statutory
timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject to the
information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third party. 
In some circumstances we may be unable to achieve this deadline.  If this
is likely you will be informed and given a revised timescale at the
earliest opportunity.

In some cases there may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and
provision of the information you request.  If this is the case you will be
informed and the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we
receive payment from you. If you choose not to make payment then your
request will remain unanswered. Some requests may also require either full
or partial transference to another public authority in order to answer
your query in the fullest possible way. Again, you will be informed if
this is the case.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please do
not hesitate to contact this office.

Yours sincerely

Information Compliance
Warwickshire Police

[1]Putting Victims FirstPutting Victims First
Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police are committed to providing the
best possible service to our communities and putting victims at the heart
of everything we do.

For information on services and support given to our victims by us and our
criminal justice partners visit our websites:

Warwickshire Police: [2]www.warwickshire.police.uk/puttingvictimsfirst
West Mercia Police: [3]www.westmercia.police.uk/puttingvictimsfirst

References

Visible links
2. https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/putti...
3. http://www.westmercia.police.uk/puttingv...

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping

Dear Mr. T Roberts

FOI REQUESTS: WARWICKSHIRE POLICE REF:FOI-2018-00211 & WEST MERCIA POLICE
REF: 9429

I write in connection with your request for information received by
Warwickshire & West Mercia Police on 8^th March, 2018 in which you seek
access to the following information:

Request:

1. The location of all buildings currently owned or occupied by your
organisation.

2. The tenure of the building i.e. freehold or leasehold.

3. What departments are based at each location i.e. Headquarters,
Neighbourhood Policing, Investigations.

Response:

I regret to advise you that I am unable to provide all of the information
requested.  Firstly, Information relevant to your request is not held in a
format that would enable me to provide the detailed breakdown of which
departments are based at which locations.  Most of the buildings across
the Alliance (Warwickshire & West Mercia) are multi-use buildings, where a
number of units and departments are spread over various premises
across both policing areas (Warwickshire and West Mercia). Some areas of
business may be recorded as ‘based’ at a particular building for
administration purposes, but the actual work is carried out at a different
location.  The information that has been located that is suitable for
release into the public domain is set out in the  documents
attached entitled  0211 Property Schedule Warwickshire Police for
release and 9429 Property Schedule West Mercia Police for release. 

Secondly, some of the information held relevant to your request attracts
exemption under Section S31 (1) (a) and (b)  Law Enforcement

Section 31 (1) (a) and (b) of the Act is a qualified and prejudice based
exemption.   I am therefore, required to evidence the prejudice
and/or harm that may result from disclosure.   In addition, I must also conduct a public interest test to
determine whether the  public interest lies
in disclosing or withholding the requested information. 

Harm

Effective Policing encompasses a wide variety of operational tactics,
including overt and covert Policing. Covert Policing assists in gathering
intelligence and preventing crime. It is well known in the public arena
that the police service sometimes has to rely on the use of covert and
undercover tactics in order to tackle crime. An extension of this is the
fact that a Force may sometimes have to hold assets that fall outside of
the usual publication requirements, because to do so would disclose
information useful to criminals and those wishing to disrupt policing
activity. Attacks on police buildings do occur. Whilst the risk of attack
from terrorist organisations is obvious, stations can be attacked from
other groups.

Placing into the public domain the whereabouts of police buildings which
contain covert operations, officers and police staff would reveal police
tactics, capabilities and vulnerabilities. Damage to police resources, be
they building, equipment or personnel, would clearly have a negative
impact on the Force’s ability to enforce the law.

Police officers who are working covertly may be identified by such
disclosure, which would place those officers at risk. As is evidenced in
the following article:

[4]https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr...

The Alliance would obviously not wish to disclose details into the public
domain, which could affect effective policing.

Public Interest Test

In favour of disclosure

Providing the information would provide the public with the number of
police administration buildings throughout the force and in the Area in
which they live. This would show that the police are being accountable to
the public. It would also show how the resources are distributed and
indicate whether it is being done correctly and fairly

In favour of non-disclosure

Providing the requested information in relation to covert buildings may
jeopardise any investigations that may be being conducted from those
premises. 

Placing into the public domain the whereabouts of police buildings which
contain covert operations, officers and police staff would reveal police
tactics, capabilities and vulnerabilities. This in turn could have
disastrous consequences for ongoing undercover investigations or
operations.  

Balancing Test 

It is acknowledged that there is a clear public interest in transparency
relating to how the police conduct operations, however, this must be
weighed against the very real and considerable risk that disclosure of the
information may bring.  On weighing up the competing interests, I find
that on this occasion the public interest favours partly withholding the
information requested.

In accordance with the Act please treat this letter as the Refusal Notice
I am required to provide in respect of the information withheld. 

Appeal Rights
Your attention is drawn to the information below, which details your right
of appeal.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please do
not hesitate to contact this office.

Yours sincerely

Sabina Harris
Information Compliance Officer
Tel: 01788 853864 (internal 3864)
Fax: 01788 953781
Email: [email address]

Not protectively marked

WARWICKSHIRE POLICE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION APPEALS PROCEDURE

This appeals procedure is issued in accordance with paragraph 36 of the
Lord Chancellor's Freedom of Information Access Code of Practice.

Appeal Notification

When a Freedom of Information (FOI) applicant, who has made a request for
information, is dissatisfied with the response received from Warwickshire
Police, the FOI  applicant should inform Warwickshire Police in writing
within 20 working days (this may be by email) of the reasons why the
response is deemed unsatisfactory.

Should a person who feels that Warwickshire Police is not complying with
its Publication Scheme, the person should inform Warwickshire Police in
writing (this may be by email) of the reasons for their dissatisfaction.

Action by Warwickshire Police

When a dissatisfaction report is received, the circumstances of the
dispute will be reviewed initially by the Decision Makers in the Freedom
of Information Office.

If the Decision Makers are unable to resolve the dispute with the FOI
applicant, the dispute will be referred to a Board comprising a Head of
Department and a Chief Officer. The Board will not have been involved in
the original decision making process to compile the response.

The Board will consider the dispute and will advise the FOI applicant of
their decision as soon as practicable, but within 20 working days.

Further Action by FOI Applicant

If the FOI applicant remains dissatisfied with the Warwickshire Police
response, they then have the option to refer the case to the Information
Commissioner.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at [5]https://ico.org.uk/ Alternatively, phone
or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a
national rate number
Fax: 01625 524 510
 

[6]Putting Victims FirstPutting Victims First
Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police are committed to providing the
best possible service to our communities and putting victims at the heart
of everything we do.

For information on services and support given to our victims by us and our
criminal justice partners visit our websites:

Warwickshire Police: [7]www.warwickshire.police.uk/puttingvictimsfirst
West Mercia Police: [8]www.westmercia.police.uk/puttingvictimsfirst

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D3CB63.CE7F81E0
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr...
5. https://ico.org.uk/
7. https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/putti...
8. http://www.westmercia.police.uk/puttingv...