Selected TASER Deployment Forms

The request was refused by Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

Dear Cambridgeshire Constabulary,

Could you please release the TASER deployment forms from 2014 and 2015 in relation to

1. TASER use within police stations
2. TASER use within a private residence where the psychological issues tick box was checked or the the powers / policy cited relates to mental health.

I expect personally identifiable information to be redacted from the forms before their release.

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

This request is for more details of some of the instances of TASER use revealed via a FOI response published on the force's disclosure log:

http://www.cambs.police.uk/about/foi/dis...

Freedom of Information,

Dear Richard

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0286/2015

 

We acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information (FOI) request which
was received by Cambridgeshire Constabulary on 25/03/2015

 

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 twenty working days as defined by the Act. In some
circumstances, we may be unable to achieve this deadline. If this is the
case, you will be informed and given a revised time-scale at the earliest
opportunity.

 

If we require any further clarification regarding this request, you will
be notified.

 

We would advise you that the nature of certain requests may involve
payment of a fee.  If this is the case, you will be notified.

 

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
telephone on 01480 456 111 asking for the Information Access Office or
email [Cambridgeshire Constabulary request email]

 

Regards

 

Julie Purse

Information Access Office

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

 

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Freedom of Information,

1 Attachment

Dear Richard

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0286/2015

 

In reply to your request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, dated 25^th March 2015 and received in the constabulary as
follows:

 

Could you please release the TASER deployment forms from 2014 and 2015 in
relation to

 

1. TASER use within police stations

2. TASER use within a private residence where the psychological issues
tick box was checked or the the powers / policy cited relates to mental
health.

 

I expect personally identifiable information to be redacted from the forms
before their release.

 

 

Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act states that a public
authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the
authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would
exceed the “appropriate limit”.  For Police forces in the UK, the
"appropriate limit" is considered to be up to 18 hours of work on one
request. This information is given in the Freedom of Information (Fees and
Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

 

It is estimated that it will take not less than 25 hours to provide an
answer to this request.

 

This is due to the way TASER forms for Cambridgeshire Constabulary
officers are compiled and retained as well as the method used for
recording all of the information requested by your questions.  The first
task in retrieving the relevant documents would be to retrieve all the
TASER forms in respect of these officers and this has been done.  Having
reviewed each of these forms it is clear that the full information
required by your request is not contained therein with regard to the
location of the incident and or the powers or policy cited for the use of
the TASER.  The address details recorded on the form do not indicate
whether the location was a private residence or whether the incident
occurred within that address or external to it.  To ascertain the full
information in relation to each use of TASER is assessed to take in excess
of 25 hours to achieve.  This has been based on a dip sample of TASER
deployment forms.

 

However, under my duties under s16 of the Act I would suggest that
limiting your request to the calendar year of 2014 alone and also the
“usage” as being those classed as “firing” would enable me to extract the
information within the cost limit.  If you were able to limit the
“non-firing” use of TASERs to a simple statistic this would be achievable
within cost also. 

 

In revising your request it would be useful to be advised which sections
you require to be provided from the completed forms. 

 

If you wish to appeal our decisions, please see the attachment, which sets
out your rights to appeal.

 

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact the Information Access Office on telephone number 01480 456 111
extension 2036.

 

Regards

 

David Price

 

Information Access Office

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

 

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Dear Cambridgeshire Constabulary,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Cambridgeshire Constabulary's handling of my FOI request 'Selected TASER Deployment Forms'.

I would like the review to consider how the incidents referred to in the response to the FOI request with your reference 0322/15 were identified and if a similar strategy could be applied to identify the TASER deployment forms requested in part two of this request.

I note I am not requesting any information which is not present on a TASER deployment form, nor am I seeking for any distinction to be made if a TASER use was inside, or outside.

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

Regards,

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Freedom of Information,

Dear Richard

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0286-2015

 

We acknowledge receipt of your request for an Internal Review of our
response to you dated 22/04/2015.

 

Your request asked for information about ‘Selected TASER Deployment Forms’

 

Your appeal will now be considered and you will be notified of the outcome
of this appeal in writing.

 

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
telephone on 01480 456111 asking for the Information Access Office or
email [Cambridgeshire Constabulary request email]

 

Regards

 

Francis

 

Francis Crawford

Information Access Office

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

 

 

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Freedom of Information,

1 Attachment

Dear Richard

 

Please find the attached letter in respect of your recent FOI Appeal.

 

 

 

Kathleen Love

Information Access Supervisor

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

 

 

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The force has referred me to their FOI response 0322/15

https://www.cambs.police.uk/about/foi/di...

I already cited this response in my correspondence. They've not explained why they are unable to provide more detail in respect of cases already identified in that response.

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

I have sent the following to the ICO:

Subject: Application for Decision by Information Commissioner

I would like to make an application for a decision by the Information Commissioner, as provided for by Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, in respect of the request for information made via:

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

All relevant correspondence related to the request is available via that link and I can confirm that I made the request in question.

The public body's response to my request for an internal review does not address the points I made when requesting the review.

Regards,

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The Information Commissioner has decided that Cambridgeshire Police were right to refuse my request.

I still don't understand why, however the request was interpreted, relevant TASER usage could be identified following a previous similar request, but not this one.

The decision notice will be published on the Information Commissioner's website shortly under reference number FS50589741

The commissioner claims I referred to an annotation placed on WhatDoTheyKnow and warns annotations are not sent to the public body. I never referred to an annotation when making my request or expected an annotation to be sent to the public body.

A good Police and Crime Commissioner could either review such cases of TASER use themselves or set up a mechanism to ensure such reviews are carried out and the public given confidence that such TASER uses have been justified and proportionate.

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The decision notice has been published at:

https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...