Service Policies, Instructions and Procedures

This request has been withdrawn by the person who made it. There may be an explanation in the correspondence below.

Dear West Midlands Police,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information:
1. All policies and procedures pertaining to Police Misconduct

2. All policies and procedures pertaining to Conflict Management

3. All policies and procedures pertaining to Access to Service Instructions and Service Procedures

4. All policies and procedures pertaining to Service Policies

5. A list of all portfolios held by the force’s Chief Officers (Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable)

If the force does not employ anyone ranked Assistant Chief Constable and above, please provide all portfolios held by the 3 highest ranked officers within the force.

6. All policies and procedures pertaining to Uniform Standards

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined, I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.

Yours faithfully,

James Thomas

Freedom of Information,

Dear James Thomas

FOI Request Reference: 1706A/21

Thank you for your request for information, received 28/11/2021

REQUEST

1. All policies and procedures pertaining to Police Misconduct

2. All policies and procedures pertaining to Conflict Management

3. All policies and procedures pertaining to Access to Service Instructions and Service Procedures

4. All policies and procedures pertaining to Service Policies

5. A list of all portfolios held by the force’s Chief Officers (Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable)

If the force does not employ anyone ranked Assistant Chief Constable and above, please provide all portfolios held by the 3 highest ranked officers within the force.

6. All policies and procedures pertaining to Uniform Standards

CLARIFICATION REQUIRED

I am writing to ask you to clarify your request. This is because we are not certain that we have understood your request correctly.

Therefore I should be grateful if you would clarify the following:

-when you refer to all policies and procedures - is just a policy document acceptable as procedures would be contained within?
-when you refer to conflict management - do you mean our policy on internal grievance procedure? Or do you mean something else?
-what do you mean by Access to Service Instructions and Service Procedures?
-what do you mean by Service Policies? Service of what?
-In relation to the portfolio question - do you mean their job description? Or their "personal" portfolio?

Please contact me if you need assistance with this.

To enable us to proceed with your request I would be grateful if you could provide the clarification outlined above within 40 working days of this correspondence. After receiving your reply, your request will be considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, as defined by the Act, subject to the application of any statutory exemptions. If you choose not to respond then your request will be closed.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For further information and data on West Midlands Police see our publication scheme and disclosure log

http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/

If you need any further information please contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Susan Goddard| Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Communications | West Midlands Police
T: 101 (ext. 801 2068)
Preventing crime, protecting the public and helping those in need.
If it’s not 999, search WMP Online

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

Regarding question two, I reference the PSNI Conflict Management Manual
https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...
If something similar could be replicated, that would be much appreciated.

Regarding questions 3 and 4, I reference the PSNI Corporate Policy page. Each can be seen under their own listings.
https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...
If something similar could be replicated, that would be much appreciated.

In Question 5, I would like both their personal portfolio and the portfolio listed in the job description.

If you are unable to replicate the PSNI pages above, please can you send me every equivalent policy listed on the page(s)

Yours sincerely,

James Thomas

Freedom of Information, West Midlands Police

4 Attachments

Dear James Thomas

 

FOI Request Reference: 1706A/21

 

Thank you for your request for information received 28/11/2021, and
clarification received on 29/11/21. In order to try and assist we require
further information from you please in relation to the following parts of
your request:

 

You have requested

2. All policies and procedures pertaining to Conflict Management

3. All policies and procedures pertaining to Access to Service
Instructions and Service Procedures

4. All policies and procedures pertaining to Service Policies

 

We requested clarification of these as West Midlands Police do not have
polices with these titles, and you have advised that there are similar
policies on another Police force website, and provided links to these
[1]https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...

[2]https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...

 

Please be advised that FOI legislation covers recorded information only,
the force is not obliged to interpret requests or cross reference other
information/documents/websites in order to try and establish what a
requestor is asking for. In view of this, should you wish to proceed with
these parts of your request you will need to specify the titles of the
polices that you want the force to provide - this will enable us to try
and locate and retrieve them.

 

We are not able to search records for any/all information that may contain
a reference to a subject such as `uniform` as the subject may be covered
in a number of other policies/procedures, therefore all policies would
need to be read in order to try and identify any relevant information.
However, such a search would exceed the time/fees limit under FOIA
legislation. We would be able to provide a copy of the force Uniform,
Equipment and Appearance policy though, and this is published on our
website:

 

[3]https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/publ...

[4]https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/wp-c...

 

 

To enable us to proceed with your request I would be grateful if you could
provide the clarification outlined above within 40 working days of this
correspondence. After receiving your reply, your request will be
considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale
of 20 working days, as defined by the Act, subject to the application of
any statutory exemptions. If you choose not to respond then your request
will be closed.

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Susan Goddard| Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Communications | West Midlands Police
T: 101 (ext. 801 2068)

Preventing crime, protecting the public and helping those in need.

[5]If it’s not 999, search WMP Online

[6]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
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Description: Description: YouTube Icon [9]Description: Description:
Description: Description: Description: Facebook icon

 

This email is intended for the addressee only and may contain privileged
or confidential information. If received in error, please notify the
originator immediately. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or
alteration of this email is strictly forbidden. Views or opinions
expressed in this email do not necessarily represent those of West
Midlands Police. All West Midlands Police email activity is monitored for
virus, racist, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate activity. No
responsibility is accepted by West Midlands Police for any loss or damage
arising in any way from the receipt or use of this email.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...
2. https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...
3. https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/publ...
4. https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/wp-c...
5. website
https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/
6. http://www.twitter.com/wmpolice
7. http://www.instagram.com/westmidlandspol...
8. http://www.youtube.com/westmidlandspolice
9. http://www.facebook.com/westmidlandspolice

Dear Freedom of Information,

Could you please provide the policies listed below / or the equivalent policy:

Service Policies
Armed Policing Policy
Corporate Communications Policy
Counter-Terrorism Policy
Criminal Justice Policy
Custody Policy
Emergency Planning Policy
Environmental Management
Finance Policy
Health and Safety Policy
Human Resources Policy
Information Management Policy
Intelligence Management Policy
Investigations Policy
Organisational Security Policy
Police Search Policy
Policing the Roads Policy
Professional Standards Policy
Public Safety and Public Order Policy
Risk Management and Governance Policy
Specialist Support to Investigations
Training, Leadership and Development Policy
Vulnerability Policy
Service Instructions
Guide to Appropriate Language
Adult Safeguarding
Animals and Wildlife
Bail
CBRNe
Charging for Special Police Services
Child Protection
Confidential Information from Members of the Public
Corporate Governance Committee Structure
Covert Survelliance of Legal Consultations
Critical Incident Management and Community Impact Assessments
Data Protection
Death Investigation
DNA Elimination and Fingerprint Databases
Domestic Abuse
Driving of Police Vehicles
Fraud Response Plan
Freedom of Information
Gifts Gratuities and Hospitality
Hate Crime
Health and Safety
Honour Based Violence And Forced Marriage
Individual Performance Review
Information Security
International Enquiries
Interview Records–Non-Terrorist Crime
Leaving The Service
Locate
Maintaining Professional Boundaries
Major Incidents
Misconduct Procedures
National Enquiries
Off Duty Standards
Official Issue Notebooks Journals and Day Books
Overtime
Personal Security when completing external information
Police Officer Unsatisfactory Performance
Police Pursuits
Police Search
Property
Public Complaints and the Role of the Police Ombudsman
Records Management
Restricted Patrolling and Out of Bounds Areas
Risk Management
Serious Crime Scenes
Service Confidence
Service Vetting
Sexual Violence and Abuse
Social Media
Stop and Search
Substance Misuse
Supporting Victims & Witnesses
Threats to Life
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Wanted Persons
Wellbeing Hubs
Whistleblowing
Youth Justice
Service Procedures
Service Procedure 8-09 - Sick Pay Provisions for Police Officers
Service Procedure 4-14 - Alcohol Misuse
PD 13/06 Policing with Children and Young People

Yours sincerely,

James Thomas

Freedom of Information, West Midlands Police

13 Attachments

Dear James Thomas

 

FOI Request Reference: 1706A/21

 

Thank you for your request for information, received 28/11/2021

 

REQUEST

 

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request
the following information:

 

1.      All policies and procedures pertaining to Police Misconduct

2.      All policies and procedures pertaining to Conflict Management

3.      All policies and procedures pertaining to Access to Service
Instructions and Service Procedures

4.      All policies and procedures pertaining to Service Policies

5.      A list of all portfolios held by the force’s Chief Officers
(Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable)

 

If the force does not employ anyone ranked Assistant Chief Constable and
above, please provide all portfolios held by the 3 highest ranked officers
within the force.

 

6.      All policies and procedures pertaining to Uniform Standards

We clarified on 29/11/2021 and you responded on 29/11/2021 

 

Regarding question two, I reference the PSNI Conflict Management Manual

 

[1]https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...

 

If something similar could be replicated, that would be much appreciated.

Regarding questions 3 and 4, I reference the PSNI Corporate Policy page.
Each can be seen under their own listings.

 

[2]https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...

 

If something similar could be replicated, that would be much appreciated.

 

In Question 5, I would like both their personal portfolio and the
portfolio listed in the job description.

 

If you are unable to replicate the PSNI pages above, please can you send
me every equivalent policy listed on the page(s)

 

We clarified further on 10^th Dec 2021 and you responded on 11^th Dec 2021

 

Could you please provide the policies listed below / or the equivalent
policy:

 

Service Policies

Armed Policing Policy

Corporate Communications Policy

Counter-Terrorism Policy

Criminal Justice Policy

Custody Policy

Emergency Planning Policy

Environmental Management

Finance Policy

Health and Safety Policy

Human Resources Policy

Information Management Policy

Intelligence Management Policy

Investigations Policy

Organisational Security Policy

Police Search Policy

Policing the Roads Policy

Professional Standards Policy

Public Safety and Public Order Policy

Risk Management and Governance Policy

Specialist Support to Investigations

Training, Leadership and Development Policy

Vulnerability Policy

Service Instructions

Guide to Appropriate Language

Adult Safeguarding

Animals and Wildlife

Bail

CBRNe

Charging for Special Police Services

Child Protection

Confidential Information from Members of the Public

Corporate Governance Committee Structure

Covert Survelliance of Legal Consultations

Critical Incident Management and Community Impact Assessments

Data Protection

Death Investigation

DNA Elimination and Fingerprint Databases

Domestic Abuse

Driving of Police Vehicles

Fraud Response Plan

Freedom of Information

Gifts Gratuities and Hospitality

Hate Crime

Health and Safety

Honour Based Violence And Forced Marriage

Individual Performance Review

Information Security

International Enquiries

Interview Records–Non-Terrorist Crime

Leaving The Service

Locate

Maintaining Professional Boundaries

Major Incidents

Misconduct Procedures

National Enquiries

Off Duty Standards

Official Issue Notebooks Journals and Day Books

Overtime

Personal Security when completing external information

Police Officer Unsatisfactory Performance

Police Pursuits

Police Search

Property

Public Complaints and the Role of the Police Ombudsman

Records Management

Restricted Patrolling and Out of Bounds Areas

Risk Management

Serious Crime Scenes

Service Confidence

Service Vetting

Sexual Violence and Abuse

Social Media

Stop and Search

Substance Misuse

Supporting Victims & Witnesses

Threats to Life

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Wanted Persons

Wellbeing Hubs

Whistleblowing

Youth Justice

Service Procedures

Service Procedure 8-09 - Sick Pay Provisions for Police Officers

Service Procedure 4-14 - Alcohol Misuse

PD 13/06 Policing with Children and Young People

Uniform Policy

 

Our understanding is you require all of the listed Policies and also:

 

A list of all portfolios held by the force’s Chief Officers (Assistant
Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable)

 

If the force does not employ anyone ranked Assistant Chief Constable and
above, please provide all portfolios held by the 3 highest ranked officers
within the force.

 

 

RESPONSE

 

The response has been answered in the following:

 

o S21 FOI Act Published
o Redacted data provided with relevant PIT
o S12 FOI Act Cost
o S40 exemption - Personal Data

 

Under section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in
response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The
following information you requested is available on the following website.

 

For the following policies:

[3]Policies and Procedures - Freedom of Information - West Midlands Police
(west-midlands.police.uk)   

Environmental

Uniform and Equipment

 

Investigation

Hate Crime

Health and Safety

 

Freedom of Information

 

Gifts Gratuities and Hospitality

 

Information Management (several policies published under this heading)

Intelligence (several policies published under this heading)

Data Protection

 

Social Media & Digital media

 

Information Security

 

Detained Property

 

Records Management

 

………………………

 

[4]1605A_ATTACHMENT_01.pdf (west-midlands.police.uk)

For the Vetting Policy

……………………….

[5]Domestic Abuse Policy (1659A/21) - Freedom of Information - West
Midlands Police (west-midlands.police.uk)

For the Domestic Abuse Policy

……………………….

[6]Professional Standards Policies 2020 (1229A/20 & 1230A/20) - Freedom of
Information - West Midlands Police (west-midlands.police.uk)

For Misconduct Procedures and Professional standards policies

 

………………………………..

Some of our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide
this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of
Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).

 

I am unable to suggest any practical way in which your request may be
modified in order to satisfy your query or bring it within the 18 hours
stipulated by the Regulations. I am however willing to consider any
refinements that you are able to make to your request, in accordance with
Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act.  If you would like to look
into refining your request please contact me.

 

The Policies you have requested copies of below are not currently
available as a single policy but are covered in other multiple polices. 
To read and evaluate every policy to see if it pertains to a particular
one you have listed exceeds costs for the FOI Act.

 

Service Policies

 

Armed Policing Policy

 

Counter-Terrorism Policy

 

Criminal Justice Policy

 

Custody Policy

Finance Policy

Human Resources Policy

 

Information Management Policy

 

Intelligence Management Policy

 

Death Investigation

 

Animals and Wildlife

 

Bail

 

Organisational Security Policy

 

Police Search Policy

Policing the Roads Policy

 

Professional Standards Policy

 

Public Safety and Public Order Policy

 

Risk Management and Governance Policy

 

Specialist Support to Investigations

 

Training, Leadership and Development Policy

 

Vulnerability Policy

 

Service Instructions

 

Guide to Appropriate Language

 

Adult Safeguarding

 

CBRNe

 

Charging for Special Police Services

 

Child Protection

 

Confidential Information from Members of the Public

 

Corporate Governance Committee Structure

 

Covert Surveillance of Legal Consultations

 

DNA Elimination and Fingerprint Databases

Driving of Police Vehicles

 

Fraud Response Plan

 

Individual Performance Review

 

International Enquiries

 

Interview Records–Non-Terrorist Crime

 

Leaving The Service

 

Locate

 

Maintaining Professional Boundaries

 

Major Incidents

 

National Enquiries

 

Off Duty Standards

 

Official Issue Notebooks Journals and Day Books

 

Overtime

 

Personal Security when completing external information

 

Police Officer Unsatisfactory Performance

 

Police Pursuits

 

Police Search

 

Public Complaints and the Role of the Police Ombudsman

Restricted Patrolling and Out of Bounds Areas

Risk Management

 

Serious Crime Scenes

 

Service Confidence

 

Substance Misuse

 

Supporting Victims & Witnesses

 

Threats to Life

 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

 

Wanted Persons

 

Wellbeing Hubs

 

Youth Justice

 

Service Procedures

 

Service Procedure 8-09 - Sick Pay Provisions for Police Officers

 

Service Procedure 4-14 - Alcohol Misuse

 

PD 13/06 Policing with Children and Young People

……………………………………………

 

For the policies listed below, we can confirm that some relevant
information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the
information requested is attached to this email some of the data is
withheld, I am not required to release all of the information requested.
Please find attached redacted policies for:

 

Stop and Search

 

Emergency Planning Policy

 

Critical Incidents

Honour Based abuse and forced Marriage

 

Rape and serious sexual offences

Whistleblowing – redacted not yet agreed

 

Also:

 

Job Description and National Role of Chief Constable

Job Description and National Role of Assistant Chief Constable

Job Description and National Role of Deputy Chief Constable

 

A list of all portfolios held by the force’s Chief Officers (Assistant
Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable)

 

The portfolio of a Chief Constable, Assistant Chief Constable and Deputy
Chief Constable can be located on the following link:

 

[7]Working together | College of Policing

 

National Portfolio for the DCC:

Diversity and inclusivity.

LGBT+ issues

Chair of the International Coordination Committee. 

National Portfolio for the ACC

Crime portfolio

Commonwealth Games

Operations

 

The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemptions

 

Section 31 Law Enforcement

Section 40 (2) personal data

 

In line with the above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public
Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached (1706A_21
PIT).

 

Section 40(2) is an absolute and class-based exemption if to release the
information exists would breach the third party’s data protection rights. 
In this case to release this personal information would not constitute
fair processing of the data. As this exemption is class based I am not
required to identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance, I
believe that the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release

 

Any further details regarding these incidents are exempt by the following:

 

Section 31 Law Enforcement

Section 40 (2) – Personal information

 

These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:

 

[8]https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-co...

 

 

REASONS FOR DECISION

 

The cost of compliance with the whole of your request is above the amount
to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of locating and
retrieving the information would exceed the appropriate costs limit under
section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the
appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004, S.I. 3244.

 

And

 

The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemptions

 

Section 31 Law Enforcement

Section 40 (2) personal data

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

For further information and data on West Midlands Police see our
publication scheme and disclosure log

 

[9]http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/

 

RIGHT OF APPEAL

 

Your attention is drawn to your right to request a re-examination of your
case under West Midlands Police review procedure, which can be found at:

 

[10]http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/revie...

 

Please note that such an appeal must be received within 40 working days of
the date of this correspondence. Any such request received after this time
will only be considered at the discretion of the FOI Unit.

 

If you require any further information, then please do not hesitate to
contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Susan Goddard| Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Communications | West Midlands Police
T: 101 (ext. 801 2068)

Preventing crime, protecting the public and helping those in need.

[11]If it’s not 999, search WMP Online

[12]Description: Description: Description: Description: Description:
twitter icon [13]Description: Description: Description: Description:
Description: Instagram Icon [14]Description: Description: Description:
Description: Description: YouTube Icon [15]Description: Description:
Description: Description: Description: Facebook icon

 

This email is intended for the addressee only and may contain privileged
or confidential information. If received in error, please notify the
originator immediately. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or
alteration of this email is strictly forbidden. Views or opinions
expressed in this email do not necessarily represent those of West
Midlands Police. All West Midlands Police email activity is monitored for
virus, racist, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate activity. No
responsibility is accepted by West Midlands Police for any loss or damage
arising in any way from the receipt or use of this email.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...
2. https://www.psni.police.uk/advice_inform...
3. https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/publ...
4. https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/wp-c...
5. https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/dome...
6. https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/prof...
7. https://www.college.police.uk/
8. https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-co...
9. http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/
10. http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/revie...
11. website
https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/
12. http://www.twitter.com/wmpolice
13. http://www.instagram.com/westmidlandspol...
14. http://www.youtube.com/westmidlandspolice
15. http://www.facebook.com/westmidlandspolice