The cover up of child abuse by both police and / or councils

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

The request was refused by Essex Police.

Dear Essex Police,

Following the recent article in the news regarding “covering up”, “tampering” or “loosing” evidence regarding child abuse, we would like to know the following:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34279984

Please go back to 2000

1. How many police officers or civilian staff have lost their job, been suspended or forced to resign for reporting child abuse in the following situations:-
a) Reporting as a police officer
b) Reporting as a parent (i.e. reporting their partner, in-laws etc.)

2. How many police officers or civilian staff have lost their job, been suspended or forced to resign for reporting the cover up / tampering of records / loosing evidence / perverting the course of justice in child abuse cases.
a) Please state (and name) what authority was reported to police (i.e. name of police force / station, name of council, name of school etc.) and what was alleged.
b) Please advise the outcomes of cases in Q2a or if they are ongoing.

3. How many former police officers have reported the cover up / tampering of records / loosing evidence / perverting the course of justice in child abuse cases?
a) Please state (and name) what authority was reported to police (i.e. name of police force / station, name of council, name of school etc.) and what was alleged.
b) Please advise the outcomes of cases in Q2a or if they are ongoing.

4. How many police officers have been found guilty of child sex offences?
(i.e. Ben Hodder http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ess...)

5. How many former police officers have been found guilty of child sex offences?

Yours faithfully,

S. Prichard

Data FOI Essex, Essex Police

1 Attachment

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference.

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20
working days.  The Act does not specify a limit to the number of
information requests a public authority may receive or the number of
requests or questions an applicant may submit.  However, there are
exemptions in the Act that can apply and these include where the cost of
complying with the request would extend beyond the reasonable cost limit,
(currently 18 hours or £450), or if the request is otherwise manifestly
unreasonable in its scope or nature.  Requests that ask a great many
questions, or a number of detailed requests submitted at the same time,
may make it necessary for Essex Police to refuse the requests wholly or in
part.

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has responsibility for
providing oversight and guidance for the legislation and they have
produced advice for applicants on submitting effective requests.  Further
information can be found on the Commissioner’s website at
[1]www.ico.gov.uk specific information relating to submitting a request
can be found at:
[2]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...

 

While we process your request, please take the time to consider the ICO’s
advice and whether you feel it may be beneficial to amend or refine your
request. Our team is happy to discuss your request with you and will be
able to provide advice as to what kind of information will be available
from Essex Police.

 

 

Steve Grayton

Senior Information Officer

Data Protection & Freedom of Information

Information Management

Corporate Services

Essex Police Headquarters

PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA

 

Internal extension 150044

External Dial 101 then ext.150044

Data Protection / FOI Team direct dial: 01245 452647

Fax: 01245 452256 Internal 150045

Email : data[Essex Police request email]

Personal email: [email address]

Website: www.essex.police.uk

 

Office hours: Mon-Thur 8:00 - 16:00, Fri 8:00 - 15:30

 

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your FOI request, you have
the right to ask for an internal review.

 

Internal review requests should be submitted within 20 working days of the
date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be
addressed to the Senior Information Officer at the above address or by
email to: [3]data[Essex Police request email]

 

They will conduct an internal review to investigate the handling of your
request and endeavour to reply within 20 working days. If your complaint
refers to a decision to apply an exemption it would assist the review if
you would outline the reasons why you feel the exemption does not apply.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [4]https://ico.org.uk/

 

 

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Data FOI Essex, Essex Police

1 Attachment

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference. Having completed my enquiries I am able to respond as follows:

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties
on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at
Sec1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a
request is held. The second duty at Sec1(1)(b) is to disclose information
that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon
s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a)
states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states
(if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

In respect of your enquiry:

Following the recent article in the news regarding “covering up”,
“tampering” or “loosing” evidence regarding child abuse, we would like to
know the following:-

[1]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34279984

 

Please go back to 2000

 

1. How many police officers or civilian staff have lost their job, been
suspended or forced to resign for reporting child abuse in the following
situations:-

a) Reporting as a police officer

b) Reporting as a parent (i.e. reporting their partner, in-laws etc.)

 

2. How many police officers or civilian staff have lost their job, been
suspended or forced to resign for reporting the cover up / tampering of
records / loosing evidence / perverting the course of justice in child
abuse cases.

a) Please state (and name) what authority was reported to police (i.e.
name of police force / station, name of council, name of school etc.) and
what was alleged.

b) Please advise the outcomes of cases in Q2a or if they are on-going.

 

3. How many former police officers have reported the cover up / tampering
of records / loosing evidence / perverting the course of justice in child
abuse cases?

a) Please state (and name) what authority was reported to police (i.e.
name of police force / station, name of council, name of school etc.) and
what was alleged.

b) Please advise the outcomes of cases in Q2a or if they are on-going.

 

4. How many police officers have been found guilty of child sex offences?

(i.e. Ben Hodder [2]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ess...)

 

5. How many former police officers have been found guilty of child sex
offences?

 

Essex Police does not hold information relating to your request in a
format that allows it to be retrieved within the scope of FOI.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties
on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at section
1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a
request is held. The second duty at section 1(1)(b) is to disclose
information that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are
relied upon section 17(1) of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant
with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in
question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the
exemption applies.

Information is held by PSD for the management of the individual case and
it is not entered onto a system for the purposes of creating statistical
data. Some information concerning PSD investigations into officer
misconduct is created by PSD for reports to the Police & Crime
Commissioner (see below) and to the Home Office but the data requested
would not be captured as part of those processes. Conviction data (your
questions 4&5) is not held by Essex Police but by the Courts.

 

In this instance, to determine whether or not Essex Police even hold the
information as specified in your request would require the manual
examination of a very high number of records, simply in order to ascertain
whether the information as held. We do not record the information
requested in a format that allows it to be retrieved, details are kept in
individual personnel / investigation files and we would need to manually
review those files for the period of your enquiry to extract what data is
recorded.

Such an exercise would extend beyond the reasonable amount that a public
authority is required to expend in responding to a request under the
Freedom of Information Act, as set out in the Data Protection and Freedom
of Information (Fees and appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which
currently stands at £450 or eighteen hours. It would also involve the
creation of new data which we are not required to do under the Act.

Consequently, and by virtue of the exception at section 12(2) of the FOI
Act 2000, Essex Police are exempt from the duty to comply with section
1(1)(a) of the FOI Act as follows-

12 - Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit.

(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a
request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its
obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the
estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the
appropriate limit.

Therefore, and in accordance with section 17 of the Act, this
communication must act as a refusal notice to comply with section 1(1)(a)
of the FOI Act by confirming whether information is held or not.

Unfortunately given the wide scope of your enquiry I am unable to suggest
how to simplify your request to allow information to be extracted within
the scope of FOI. The information requested is not recorded in such a way
I can see how it could be retrieved.

Having said that, and in an effort to assist - although excess cost
removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, I
have supplied information, relative to your request, which is already
easily retrievable. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our
legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your
request.

 

Essex Police and the PCC for Essex have accepted the need for more
publication of data surrounding the issues raised in your enquiry i.e.
complaints / discipline, and the PCC has already taken the step of
publishing some data, see links below:

PCC publications:

 

[3]http://www.essex.pcc.police.uk/2013/11/e...

 

[4]http://www.essex.pcc.police.uk/2014/07/h...

 

Essex Police has also published data which can be found here:

 

[5]http://www.essex.police.uk/about/freedom...

 

and here:

 

[6]http://www.essex.police.uk/about/publica...

 

The reports contained in these links will give you brief details about
various complaints received from members of the public and others
resulting from internal matters. No further details will be released under
FOI Section 40(2) Personal Information.

Other information is published by the IPCC and can be found at:
[7]http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/page/annual-polic...

Essex Police has recently been experiencing a substantial increase in the
number of information requests received under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the FOI Act) at a time when I am sure you
will appreciate that police resources are at a premium due to the economic
climate. We are currently exploring ways to better manage the volume of
requests we are receiving and the above reports will be updated on a
regular basis. We are also looking to expand these publications into other
areas of discipline and details will be published in due course.

 

I am sorry we are unable to assist further with this request.

 

Steve Grayton

Senior Information Officer
Data Protection & Freedom of Information
Information Management
Corporate Services
Essex Police Headquarters
PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA

 

Internal extension 150044
External Dial 101 then ext.150044
Data Protection / FOI Team direct dial: 01245 452647
Fax: 01245 452256 Internal 150045
Email : [8]data[Essex Police request email]
Personal email: [9][email address]
Website: [10]www.essex.police.uk

Office hours: Mon-Thur 8:00 - 16:00, Fri 8:00 - 15:30

[11]http://web/departments/mediaandpr/pr/Cre...

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your FOI request, you have
the right to ask for an internal review.

 

Internal review requests should be submitted within 20 working days of the
date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be
addressed to the Senior Information Officer at the above address or by
email to: [12]data[Essex Police request email]

 

They will conduct an internal review to investigate the handling of your
request and endeavour to reply within 20 working days. If your complaint
refers to a decision to apply an exemption it would assist the review if
you would outline the reasons why you feel the exemption does not apply.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [13]https://ico.org.uk/

 

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