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Everyone has the right to know what the Police Service of Northern Ireland does with information about them. This type of information is called personal data. This document sets out how the Police Service of Northern Ireland uses personal data.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland have to obey the law and there is a law which sets down rules for us about using people’s personal data called the Data Protection Act. The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland is responsible for making sure the Police Service of Northern Ireland obey this law.

Children's privacy notice

  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland will process lots of different types of personal data. This includes, names, date of birth, address, your race, family and lifestyle information, education, your religious beliefs, details of any crime you have or may have committed, your health and your finances. This information may be kept, by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, on a computer or in paper format.

  • It is the the Police Service of Northern Ireland's  job to prevent and solve crimes. Therefore the Police Service of Northern Ireland may sometimes need to use your personal data for our policing purposes and to support how we do our job. We also need to keep personal data about the staff who work for us, for example, the names of police officers that solve crimes.

  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland will only use personal data if it is lawful to do so. We will not use more data than we need to, or keep it longer then we need to. We also take measures to ensure that we keep this data safe. The Police Service of Northern Ireland have written many documents which tell us what to do with your personal data to make sure we do not break the law.

  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland may process personal data relating to a wide variety of people, some examples are:

    • Victims and witnesses
    • People who have committed crimes
    • Family members
    • Our staff
    • Members of the public
  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland may obtain personal data from many places, some examples are:

    • People themselves
    • Employees of the Police Service of Northern Ireland
    • Relatives
    • Other emergency services
    • Media
    • Prisons
    • Courts and solicitors
  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland  may have to share information with other organisations to make sure that they carry out their job properly. If the Police Service of Northern Ireland have information that they need to share to keep a person or people safe, or to stop a crime from happening, they will. If this information is to be shared somewhere where the law is different than in Europe they will make sure they do so only if they know that the data is safe.

  • Yes, people can make what is called a subject access request to Police Service of Northern Ireland. This is where they ask to have a copy of some, or all, of the information that Police Service of Northern Ireland hold about them. Before the Police Service of Northern Ireland can provide someone with information we need to be sure that the person is who they say they are; therefore, people will be asked for identification. The Police Service of Northern Ireland will try to answer people’s queries within a month; however, it may take longer if there is a lot of information to look through.

  • Yes, people have a number of rights when it comes to their personal data. These rights will change depending on the reasons the Police Service of Northern Ireland hold the data.

    People can ask for the Police Service of Northern Ireland to fix information that is wrong and the Police Service of Northern Ireland will do so.

    People can also ask the Police Service of Northern Ireland to delete or stop using their personal data. The Police Service of Northern Ireland will investigate how they use the data and if they are allowed to keep using it in this way, in line with the law, they will keep using it.

    People can also ask the Police Service of Northern Ireland not to make decisions about them by only using a computer system and can ask that a human being looks at the information.

    Before the Police Service of Northern Ireland can look at someone’s information we need to be sure that the person is who they say they are. Therefore people will be asked for identification. The Police Service of Northern Ireland will try to answer people’s queries within a month; however, it may take longer if there is a lot of information to look through.

  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland will consider each request individually. If you are able to understand your rights and write to us it is likely that we will deal with your request. Sometimes however we may need to seek your parent or guardians permission to do what you have asked us to do.

  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland may monitor or record and retain telephone calls, texts, emails and other electronic communications to and from the Service in order to discourage, prevent and detect inappropriate behaviour or crime.

  • If you would like to exercise any of the information discussed in this document, you can do so by contacting the following department. You may wish to discuss this with your parents or guardian before you contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

    Corporate Information

    Police Service of Northern Ireland
    Police Headquarters                                                         
    65 Knock Road
    Belfast
    BT6 5LE
    Telephone: 028 9070 0164
    Email: [email protected]

    The Police Service of Northern Ireland has a designated Data Protection Officer. This person will help to ensure that the Police Service of Northern Ireland follows the law when using personal data. Anybody with concerns over the way the Police Service of Northern Ireland handles their personal data may contact our Data Protection Officer at the address above or [email protected]

    The way the Police Service of Northern Ireland uses personal data is checked by an organisation called the Information Commissioner. If you remain unhappy about how the Police Service of Northern Ireland is processing your personal data you can contact them. The address is below.

    Information Commissioner’s Office

    3rd Floor
    14 Cromac Place
    Belfast
    BT7 2JB
    Tel: 028 90278757
    Email: [email protected]