Complaints against Professional Standards Department Ant Corruption Unit

Request: FOI/13384

Category: Policy and Procedures - Procedures

Subject: Complaints against Professional Standards Department Ant Corruption Unit

Your request for information has now been considered. We do not hold some of the information sought in this request. In relation to request number 2, the Police Service of Northern Ireland is providing an NCND response and will explain this further in the response below.

Request 1
Does the Police Service of Northern Ireland have a specific policy that states when a report of an alleged crime has been received the investigation must stop if they become aware that the Investigatory Powers Tribunal are carrying out a separate investigation in line with their specific role, responsibilities and remit.

Answer 1
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) does not hold information in relation to your requests. Enquiries made in relation to your request failed to locate any records or documents relevant to your request based on the information you have provided. 
The PSNI does not have a policy which contains the statement given in the request.

Accordingly, we have determined that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does not hold the information to which you seek access.

Request 2
Within the last four years (January to December ) how many criminal complaints have the Police Service of Northern received alleging criminal activity by members of the Professional Standards Department Ant Corruption Unit.

Answer
In accordance with the Act, this letter represents a Refusal Notice for this particular request. The Police Service of Northern Ireland can neither confirm nor deny that it holds the information you have requested.

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 the request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.


Where exemption/s 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.

The full text of exemptions can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) can Neither Confirm Nor Deny that it holds the information relevant to your request as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply by virtue of the following exemption(s):

Section 40(5B)(a)(i) – Personal Information
The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if to do so would contravene any of the data protection principles.

PSNI follow the Information Commissioner’s Guidance in relation to ‘NCND’ and you may find it helpful to refer to this at the following link:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guidance-index/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/when-to-refuse-to-confirm-or-deny-holding-information/

Section 40 is a Class-based exemption, therefore it is not necessary to evidence the harm caused by disclosure nor is it necessary to carry out a public interest test in this case. 

‘Neither Confirm nor Deny’ (NCND)
There may be occasions when complying with the duty to confirm or deny under section 1(1)(a) would in itself disclose sensitive or potentially damaging information that falls under an exemption. In these circumstances, the Act allows a public authority to respond by refusing to confirm or deny whether it holds the requested information.

The decision to issue a ‘neither confirm nor deny’ response is not affected by whether we do or do not hold the information but relates to the consequences of confirming or denying the information is held. The starting point and main focus in most cases will be theoretical considerations about the consequences of confirming or denying that a particular type of information is held. The decision to neither confirm nor deny is separate from a decision not to disclose information and needs to be taken entirely on its own merits.


Section 40(5B)(a)(i) - Personal Information
The release of information under Freedom of Information (FOI) is a release into the public domain and not just to the individual requesting the information. Once information is disclosed by FOI there is no control or limits as to who or how the information is shared with other individuals, therefore a release under FOI is considered a disclosure to the world in general.

To confirm or deny that PSNI hold or do not hold information would in fact confirm information about an individual. This would amount to a release into the public domain of personal information about an individual and likely to cause distress. The individual would have no expectation that these details would be released into the public domain; therefore PSNI would breach its data protection obligations and be unfair to individuals.

Whilst the PSNI would always wish to be transparent and accountable, no release under FOI should be made where an individual’s data protection rights would be breached. Not only would this be a breach of Data Protection legislation by the PSNI, but it would also leave the PSNI open to action against it by any individuals concerned.

However, this should not be taken as conclusive evidence that the information you requested exists or does not exist.