Serving police staff with criminal convictions
Dear Derbyshire Constabulary,
This is a Freedom of Information request. Please provide me with the following information regarding the criminal conviction status of your staff:
1. How many people does your police force/constabulary have in each of the following roles?
a. Police Officer (Detective or Constable, including Specials)
b. PCSO
c. Other Police staff
2. a. How many of your Police Officers (Detective or Constable, including Specials) have criminal convictions?
2. b. How many of your PCSOs have criminal convictions?
2. c. How many of your other Police staff have criminal convictions?
3. For each conviction, please provide the following information:
a. The person's role and/or rank
b. The offence
c. Whether the person received a custodial sentence (suspended or otherwise)
d. Whether the person was convicted before they joined the police
Yours faithfully,
Janet Eastham
Dear Ms Eastham,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST
I write in connection with your request for information as shown below.
Please provide me with the following information regarding the criminal
conviction status of your staff:
1. How many people does your police force/constabulary have in each of the
following roles?
a. Police Officer (Detective or Constable, including Specials) b. PCSO c.
Other Police staff
2. a. How many of your Police Officers (Detective or Constable, including
Specials) have criminal convictions?
2. b. How many of your PCSOs have criminal convictions?
2. c. How many of your other Police staff have criminal convictions?
3. For each conviction, please provide the following information:
a. The person's role and/or rank
b. The offence
c. Whether the person received a custodial sentence (suspended or
otherwise) d. Whether the person was convicted before they joined the
police
Please note that whilst we are required to supply the information within
20 days of receiving such a request, due to the ongoing national
Coronavirus emergency our ability to meet this deadline is significantly
reduced. Whilst we are currently unable to provide a realistic time frame
for response please be assured of our continued best efforts. We intend
to provide updates on a regular basis but again please bear with us.
Should you require further information relative to response delays the
below link will be of use:
[1]Data protection and coronavirus information.
In relation to your request 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 as soon as possible (ideally within the
20-working day timescale) and your request will be suspended pending
receipt of payment. 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 write
or contact the Freedom of Information Officer, on the telephone number
below quoting the reference number shown in the header of this e-mail.
Maddie Binnie
Disclosure Assistant
Freedom of Information Unit
Information Management
Derbyshire Constabulary
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3RS
Tel: 0300 122 8752
E-mail: [2][email address]
Web: [3]http://www.derbyshire.police.uk
[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D5C70A.A3EEBC30
PLEASE NOTE: This e-mail message is intended solely for the person to whom
it is addressed and may contain information of a confidential or legally
privileged nature which should not be disclosed. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the
message and any attachments or copies. Any review, re-transmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking action in reliance upon, this
message by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is
prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of
Derbyshire Constabulary or any other person and Derbyshire Constabulary
does not accept liability for any statement or opinion expressed. Please
be aware Derbyshire Constabulary monitors all internet e-mail activity and
content to maintain system performance and appropriate business usage.
Derbyshire Constabulary’s privacy notice can be viewed [5]Here.
References
Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/global/data-protectio...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/
5. https://www.derbyshire.police.uk/hyg/fpn...
Dear Ms Eastham,
Thank you for making a Freedom of Information request to the Derbyshire
Constabulary.
Please find attached our response.
Yours sincerely
Maddie Binnie
Disclosure Assistant
Freedom of Information Unit
Information Management
Derbyshire Constabulary
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3RS
Tel: 0300 122 8752
E-mail: [1][email address]
Web: [2]http://www.derbyshire.police.uk
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D5C70A.A3EEBC30
PLEASE NOTE: This e-mail message is intended solely for the person to whom
it is addressed and may contain information of a confidential or legally
privileged nature which should not be disclosed. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the
message and any attachments or copies. Any review, re-transmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking action in reliance upon, this
message by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is
prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of
Derbyshire Constabulary or any other person and Derbyshire Constabulary
does not accept liability for any statement or opinion expressed. Please
be aware Derbyshire Constabulary monitors all internet e-mail activity and
content to maintain system performance and appropriate business usage.
Derbyshire Constabulary’s privacy notice can be viewed [4]Here.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/
4. https://www.derbyshire.police.uk/hyg/fpn...
Dear Derbyshire Constabulary,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Derbyshire Constabulary's handling of my FOI request 'Serving police staff with criminal convictions' (002040/21).
I'm disappointed and concerned to hear that your police force does not keep a central record showing all the officers, PCSOs and other police staff who have previous criminal convictions. I am the Investigations Reporter at the Telegraph, and I have put in this same request to all police forces in the UK, and the majority have supplied this information without any such problems. When it comes to publication, as it stands, I will have to contact your press office asking why Derbyshire Constabulary feel comfortable not keeping a record of police officers, and other police staff, who have previously been cautioned for or convicted of criminal offences.
To avoid this scenario, I politely request that you respond to this refined FOIA request, which ought to fall under your time/cost limits. I appreciate you state it would take a total of 63 staff hours to compile this information relating to my original request.
However, firstly, you'll note below that I have refined my request, and secondly, regardless of time and cost limits, as above, I am disturbed that this is information you claim to not hold centrally. To the extent that I believe it would likely be deemed irresponsible for the force to not have some centrally held repository of this information. I politely request that you check that it is indeed the case that it would take at least 63 hours for Derbyshire Constabulary to determine which of their police force's employees have previously been convicted of, or cautioned for, criminal offences, as this would no doubt be a disturbing piece of information for the public to learn.
With this in mind, please can you respond to the following question:
1. For each PCSO, constable (including specials), sergeant, inspector, and other police staff member who has been convicted of or cautioned regarding a criminal offence, and whom you currently employ, please state:
a. Their rank;
b. Year of conviction(s)/caution(s);
c. The crime(s) they were convicted of/cautioned regarding;
d. Whether they received a custodial sentence(s);
c. Whether the conviction(s) occurred before they were hired by your force, or in the course of their employment with you?
Please email me to confirm you have received this request for an internal review, and have begun processing it.
Yours faithfully,
Janet Eastham
Dear Ms Eastham
Thank you for your email concerning the above.
Whilst I am happy to forward your request to FOI reviewer I am a little confused as to what they are being asked to review. For example is it the fact we have no central register per se pre 2017 or the fact that I used S12 as an exemption? As you will note within my response I did suggest that if your request was amended to data held post 2017 I may be able to provide some response albeit it would be only for data post that date.
Additionally as your refined request stands it will attract the same response as my initial response as its basically the same in that I will have to search all HR records to determine if the information is held and if so note details or alternatively conduct a PNC search on all current officers. To clarify a point on this is the date range pre or post 2017?
At this time pending clarification of the above I do not intent to do anything on your request as it stands but, as stated above, would be more than happy to assist/forward as requested once clarification is received.
Re your comments over contacting our Press office please feel free to do so.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
Kevin Lea
Freedom of Information Manager
FOI Unit
Information Management Department
Tel: 0300 122 5487 (Internal 16200)
Mobex: 737 5152 - 07710855914
E-mail: [email address]
Hi Kevin,
Apologies, I missed that detail.
Would you be able to respond to these questions?
1. Within the 2017 onwards dataset you hold, for each PCSO, constable (including specials), sergeant, inspector, and other police staff member who has been convicted of or cautioned regarding a criminal offence, and whom you currently employ, and whose records are in this dataset, please state:
a. Their rank;
b. Year of conviction(s)/caution(s);
c. The crime(s) they were convicted of/cautioned regarding;
d. Whether they received a custodial sentence(s);
e. Whether the conviction(s)/caution(s) occurred before they were hired by your force, or in the course of their employment with you?
2. By not keeping keeping a centralised, easily searchable pre-2017 database of employee vetting data, your force appears to be exposing itself to a considerable degree of risk. If you have a written procedure for mitigating this risk, please supply it. If you do not have a written risk mitigating procedure in relation to this, please just state that no such documentation is held.
Yours sincerely,
Janet Eastham
Dear Ms Eastham,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST
I write in connection with your request for information as shown below.
1. Within the 2017 onwards dataset you hold, for each PCSO, constable
(including specials), sergeant, inspector, and other police staff member
who has been convicted of or cautioned regarding a criminal offence, and
whom you currently employ, and whose records are in this dataset, please
state:
a. Their rank;
b. Year of conviction(s)/caution(s);
c. The crime(s) they were convicted of/cautioned regarding; d. Whether
they received a custodial sentence(s); e. Whether the
conviction(s)/caution(s) occurred before they were hired by your force, or
in the course of their employment with you?
2. By not keeping keeping a centralised, easily searchable pre-2017
database of employee vetting data, your force appears to be exposing
itself to a considerable degree of risk. If you have a written procedure
for mitigating this risk, please supply it. If you do not have a written
risk mitigating procedure in relation to this, please just state that no
such documentation is held.
Please note that whilst we are required to supply the information within
20 days of receiving such a request, due to the ongoing national
Coronavirus emergency our ability to meet this deadline is significantly
reduced. Whilst we are currently unable to provide a realistic time frame
for response please be assured of our continued best efforts. We intend
to provide updates on a regular basis but again please bear with us.
Should you require further information relative to response delays the
below link will be of use:
[1]Data protection and coronavirus information.
In relation to your request 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 as soon as possible (ideally within the
20-working day timescale) and your request will be suspended pending
receipt of payment. 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 write
or contact the Freedom of Information Officer, on the telephone number
below quoting the reference number shown in the header of this e-mail.
Lydia Sinclair
Disclosure Assistant
Freedom of Information Unit
Information Management
Derbyshire Constabulary
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3RS
Tel: 0300 122 8752
E-mail: [2][email address]
Web: [3]http://www.derbyshire.police.uk
PLEASE NOTE: This e-mail message is intended solely for the person to whom
it is addressed and may contain information of a confidential or legally
privileged nature which should not be disclosed. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the
message and any attachments or copies. Any review, re-transmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking action in reliance upon, this
message by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is
prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of
Derbyshire Constabulary or any other person and Derbyshire Constabulary
does not accept liability for any statement or opinion expressed. Please
be aware Derbyshire Constabulary monitors all internet e-mail activity and
content to maintain system performance and appropriate business usage.
Derbyshire Constabulary’s privacy notice can be viewed [4]Here.
References
Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/global/data-protectio...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/
4. https://www.derbyshire.police.uk/hyg/fpn...
Dear Ms Eastham,
Thank you for making a Freedom of Information request to the Derbyshire
Constabulary.
Please find attached our response.
Yours Sincerely
Lydia Sinclair
Disclosure Assistant
Freedom of Information Unit
Information Management
Derbyshire Constabulary
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3RS
Tel: 0300 122 8752
E-mail: [1][email address]
Web: [2]http://www.derbyshire.police.uk
PLEASE NOTE: This e-mail message is intended solely for the person to whom
it is addressed and may contain information of a confidential or legally
privileged nature which should not be disclosed. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the
message and any attachments or copies. Any review, re-transmission,
dissemination or other use of, or taking action in reliance upon, this
message by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is
prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of
Derbyshire Constabulary or any other person and Derbyshire Constabulary
does not accept liability for any statement or opinion expressed. Please
be aware Derbyshire Constabulary monitors all internet e-mail activity and
content to maintain system performance and appropriate business usage.
Derbyshire Constabulary’s privacy notice can be viewed [3]Here.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.derbyshire.police.uk/
3. https://www.derbyshire.police.uk/hyg/fpn...
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now
J Roberts left an annotation ()
UIN 77581 - 11/11/22
Secretary of State for the Home Department (Chris Philp) responding to a question From Damien Moore about the recent HMICFRS report:
'The code of practice recognises the importance of public confidence and states that applications to join the police should be rejected in all cases where the applicant has served a custodial sentence or is on the sex offenders register.
There is also a rebuttable presumption that a person will not be suitable for appointment if they have a previous conviction or caution for a criminal offence. Factors such as the nature and severity of the offence and age of the person when the offence was committed can be taken into account as each case must be considered on its own merits.'
https://questions-statements.parliament....
HMICFRS report:
An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service
Published on: 2 November 2022
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/...
'Following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the then Home Secretary commissioned HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) under section 54(2B) of the Police Act 1996 to assess current vetting and counter-corruption capacity and capability in policing across England and Wales. This was to include forces’ ability to detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour.
We were asked to consider current vetting (and re-vetting), arrangements for transferees, whistleblowing arrangements, the work of counter-corruption units and, where relevant, wider Professional Standards '
IOPC:
Statement in response to HMICFRS report into vetting, misconduct and misogyny in policing
https://policeconduct.gov.uk/news/statem...
The Guardian:
The snapshot provided by a report into vetting failures is a dark one
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
BBC:
Criminals and sexual predators allowed into police, says report
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63478011