Revealed: How it can take 250 DAYS to investigate West Midlands Police misconduct claims

fFaudwAtch UK made this Freedom of Information request to Humberside Police This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Humberside Police should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Humberside Police,

The article below (see link) reveals how a police force has fallen under scrutiny for the length of time its Professional Standards Department takes to investigate misconduct claims.

250 days is the headline figure which compares favourably with a complaint about a PC serving with Humberside police which today is running at 33% longer than the West Midlands force under the spotlight with no apparent resolution.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/local...

A complaint was made about a Police Constable on 8 November 2015 (CO/00432/15), as it was suspected that the officer had incited witnesses (who had lied) to commit perjury.

There is no outcome to the investigation despite 333 days passing since the complaint was submitted. This suggests that the Professional Standards Department is seriously failing in its duty to the public and especially to the complainant who has since the reported misconduct been the victim of wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, wrongly convicted on false evidence and now having a criminal record with a £600+ fine to pay. The time spent by the victim/complainant dealing with this matter since is incalculable.

Please disclose the following:

1. At what level of seniority within the force is this failure known about? For example does the Chief Constable herself know?

2. Is the Independent Police Complaints Commission fed back records or is the watchdog organisation aware?

3. Is the Police and Crime Commissioner (Office of) fed back records or is the watchdog organisation aware?

4. All recorded data which can be provided relating to the number of conduct complaints and length of time Professional Standards Department takes to investigate them?

Yours faithfully,

fFaudwAtch UK

Information Compliance, Humberside Police

Thank you for your request for information.  If you are requesting
information under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental
Information Regulations you will receive a response within the statutory
20 working days.

We aim to respond to any other enquiries within 20 working days. Further
information on requesting information can be found on this [1]link.

 

Internet Email should not be treated as a secure means of communication.
To ensure regulatory compliance Humberside Police monitors all Internet
Email activity and content. This communication is intended for the
addressee(s) only. Unauthorised use or disclosure of the content may be
unlawful. If you are not a named addressee, you must not disclose, copy,
print, or in any other way use or rely on the data contained in this
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immediately and delete this Email Humberside Police routinely checks
e-mails for computer viruses. However addressees are advised to conduct
their own virus checks of all e-mails, & any attachments). Opinions
expressed in this document may not be official policy. Thank you for your
co-operation. Humberside Police

References

Visible links
1. http://www.humberside.police.uk/your-rig...

Green, James 8935, Humberside Police

1 Attachment

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED - NO DESCRIPTOR

Your Ref:
Our Ref:F-2016-1431

28 October, 2016

Dear Mr. Gilliatt,

Thank you for your request for information dated 06 October, 2016 concerning Length of time is takes PSB to investigate conduct complaints and associated questions.

This is to inform you that all information relating to your request has been considered and a relevant response has been attached.

Should any further information be requested regarding this topic, a separate request will need to be submitted.

If I can be of any further assistance on this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

James Green
Information Compliance Officer
101
Humberside Police
Corporate Development Branch
Information Compliance Unit
Priory Road
Kingston Upon Hull
HU5 5SF
Fax:

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED - NO DESCRIPTOR
Internet Email should not be treated as a secure means of communication. To ensure regulatory compliance Humberside Police monitors all Internet Email activity and content. This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only. Unauthorised use or disclosure of the content may be unlawful. If you are not a named addressee, you must not disclose, copy, print, or in any other way use or rely on the data contained in this transmission. If received in error you should notify the sender immediately and delete this Email Humberside Police routinely checks e-mails for computer viruses. However addressees are advised to conduct their own virus checks of all e-mails, & any attachments). Opinions expressed in this document may not be official policy. Thank you for your co-operation. Humberside Police

fFaudwAtch UK (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Humberside Police Response

Part 1: Not a valid request in accordance with s8 of the Act. This is asking a question opposed to requesting held information.

Part 2: Not a valid request in accordance with s8 of the Act. This is asking a question opposed to requesting held information.

Part 3: Not a valid request in accordance with s8 of the Act. This is asking a question opposed to requesting held information.

Part 4: Please find the relevant data below:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/3...

Dear Humberside Police,

Thank you for your response.

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Humberside Police's handling of my FOI request 'Revealed: How it can take 250 DAYS to investigate West Midlands Police misconduct claims'.

Public authorities have a duty, in accordance with Section 16(1) of the Act to provide advice and assistance to individuals making requests for information under FOIA.

Please note guidance from the ICO (Duty to provide advice and assistance)

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...

The above document clearly states on page 2 that public authorities should provide advice and assistance to an applicant in order 'to help to provide the information requested in an acceptable format'

Other guidance from the ICO under header "What can I request?" more specifically states that a request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents.

'Your request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, but the authority does not have to answer your question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded.'
https://ico.org.uk/media/1624140/duty-to...

On reviewing this in consideration of the above I am sure Humberside police will determine that all elements of the request are valid under the FOIA.

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

Yours faithfully,

fFaudwAtch UK

Information Compliance, Humberside Police

Thank you for your request for information.  If you are requesting
information under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental
Information Regulations you will receive a response within the statutory
20 working days.

We aim to respond to any other enquiries within 20 working days. Further
information on requesting information can be found on this [1]link.

 

Internet Email should not be treated as a secure means of communication.
To ensure regulatory compliance Humberside Police monitors all Internet
Email activity and content. This communication is intended for the
addressee(s) only. Unauthorised use or disclosure of the content may be
unlawful. If you are not a named addressee, you must not disclose, copy,
print, or in any other way use or rely on the data contained in this
transmission. If received in error you should notify the sender
immediately and delete this Email Humberside Police routinely checks
e-mails for computer viruses. However addressees are advised to conduct
their own virus checks of all e-mails, & any attachments). Opinions
expressed in this document may not be official policy. Thank you for your
co-operation. Humberside Police

References

Visible links
1. http://www.humberside.police.uk/your-rig...

Clement, Angela 8587, Humberside Police

1 Attachment

Your Ref:
Our Ref:F-2016-01719

07 December, 2016

Dear Mr. Gilliatt,

Thank you for your request for information dated 10 June, 2016 concerning sham appeal assessment.

Please find attached response.

Yours sincerely,

Miss A. Clement
Senior Information Compliance Officer
+44 (1482) 340669
Humberside Police
Corporate Development Branch
Information Compliance Unit
Police Headquarters
Priory Road

Kingston Upon Hull
HU5 5SF
Fax:+44 (1482) 305002

Internet Email should not be treated as a secure means of communication. To ensure regulatory compliance Humberside Police monitors all Internet Email activity and content. This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only. Unauthorised use or disclosure of the content may be unlawful. If you are not a named addressee, you must not disclose, copy, print, or in any other way use or rely on the data contained in this transmission. If received in error you should notify the sender immediately and delete this Email Humberside Police routinely checks e-mails for computer viruses. However addressees are advised to conduct their own virus checks of all e-mails, & any attachments). Opinions expressed in this document may not be official policy. Thank you for your co-operation. Humberside Police

Neil Gilliatt (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

The above response is not relevant to this request. It is however relevant to the one below:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...