K9 Queries

Request Number: FOI/15801

Category: Discipline and Misconduct - Discipline

Subject: K9 Queries

Request and Answer: 
Your request for information below has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and we can neither confirm nor deny that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does or does not hold some of the information you have requested. It is estimated that the cost of complying with your request for information would exceed the “appropriate costs limit” under Section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Request Details
Timeframe Requested
Please provide information covering the period 1 January 2020 to the date of your response.

Definitions
For the purposes of this request:
- “K9 Search and Rescue NI” includes any reference to “K9 SAR NI,” “K9 Search & Rescue Northern Ireland,” or reasonable spelling variations.
- “Correspondence” includes emails (including attachments), letters, internal memos, recorded phone calls, web form submissions, and FOI/EIR requests referencing K9 Search and Rescue NI.
- “Whistleblowing communication” means any disclosure or allegation received under PSNI’s whistleblowing, protected disclosure, or public interest reporting policies, regardless of whether the individual making the disclosure was an employee, contractor, volunteer, or external third party.
- “Malicious communication/complaint” refers to any communication recorded or treated as vexatious, harassing, abusive, threatening, or made in bad faith, under PSNI policies or guidance.

Part A – General Correspondence, FOIs and Complaints
Volume of correspondence

Request 1
The total number of emails received by the PSNI that referenced K9 Search and Rescue NI.

Request 2
The total number of FOI/EIR requests received that referenced K9 Search and Rescue NI.
Please provide annual totals and a grand total for the full timeframe.

Context / subject matter

Request 3
A high-level breakdown of the main topics or themes of the correspondence (e.g., operational tasking, complaints, governance, recognition, conflicts of interest, etc.).

Request 4
For FOI requests, please provide the exact request wording or summary and the date received.

FOI/EIR responses and outcomes

Request 5
For each FOI/EIR request identified, please state
a. Date of response.
b. Whether it was granted in full, partially withheld, or refused.
c. Any exemptions applied (by section number).
d. The outcome of any internal review or ICO decision notice, if applicable.

Governance for staff protection

Request 6
Copies of current PSNI policies and procedures used to protect staff from malicious communications or complaints.

This should include any guidance or processes for
a. Handling vexatious or abusive correspondence.
b. Identifying and recording malicious complaints.
c. Escalation and support processes for affected staff.
d. Any relevant training materials or internal staff notices currently in force.

Investigations arising from correspondence

Request 7
The total number of internal investigations or reviews carried out where correspondence or FOIs relating to K9 Search and Rescue NI were a trigger or contributing factor.

For each investigation, please provide
a. Type of investigation (e.g., misconduct, safeguarding, operational review).
b. Start and end date (month/year is sufficient).
c. Outcome (e.g., no action; complaint upheld/partially upheld/not upheld; learning points identified; policy changes implemented).

No personal or identifying details are requested — anonymised summaries are sufficient.

Part B – Whistleblowing Communications

Volume of whistleblowing reports

Request 8
The total number of whistleblowing communications received by the PSNI that referenced K9 Search and Rescue NI.
Please provide annual totals and a grand total for the full timeframe.

Context / nature of allegations
A high-level thematic summary of the allegations made, grouped into categories (e.g., safeguarding concerns, operational safety, financial irregularity, misconduct, etc.).
No identifying details are required.

PSNI response to whistleblowing reports

Request 9
For each whistleblowing report counted, please confirm
a. Date received (month/year).
b. Whether it was accepted for investigation, rejected, or referred to another body.
c. The type of response provided (e.g., acknowledgment, investigation, referral).

Investigations and outcomes

Request 10
The number of investigations launched as a direct result of whistleblowing communications relating to K9 Search and Rescue NI.

For each investigation, please provide
a. Start and end date (month/year).
b. The department/unit leading the investigation.
c. The high-level outcome (e.g., no action, complaint upheld/partially upheld/not upheld, learning actions taken, referral to external regulator).

Format of Response
Please provide numerical data in a machine-readable format (CSV or XLSX).
Policy documents can be provided in PDF format or by hyperlink if already published.

Answer
Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit) to provide you the applicant with a notice which states that fact.

It is estimated that the cost of complying with your request for information would exceed the “appropriate costs limit” under Section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section 12 of FOIA allows a public authority to refuse to deal with a request where it estimates that it would exceed the appropriate limit to either comply with the request in its entirety or confirm or deny whether the requested information is held. The estimate must be reasonable in the circumstances of the case. The ‘appropriate limit’ is currently £600 for central government and £450 for all other public authorities including PSNI. The relevant Regulations which define the appropriate limit for section 12 purposes are The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulation 2004 SI 2004 No 3244. These are known as the ‘Fees Regulations’ for brevity.

Regulation 4(3) of the Fees Regulations states that a public authority can take into account the costs it reasonably expects to incur in carrying out the following permitted activities in complying with the request:

(i) determining whether the information is held;
(ii) locating the information, or a document containing it;
(iii) retrieving the information, or a document containing it; and
(iv) extracting the information from a document containing it.

Under those regulations PSNI can calculate the time spent on each of these permitted activities at £25 per hour (thus if the activity(s) takes more than 18 hours PSNI will be in excess of the ‘appropriate limit’).

When a public authority is estimating whether the appropriate limit is likely to be exceeded, it can include the costs of complying with two or more requests if the conditions laid out in Regulation 5 of the Fees Regulations can be satisfied. Those conditions require the requests to be:
made by one person, or by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign;
made for the same or similar information; and
received by the public authority within any period of 60 consecutive working days.

Under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, if a public authority estimates that it would exceed the appropriate limit to confirm whether or not the requested information is held, under Section 12(2) of the Act, it does not have to deal with the substance of the request.

Regulation 5(2) of the Fees Regulations requires that the requests which are to be aggregated relate “to any extent” to the same or similar information. This is quite a wide test but public authorities should still ensure that the requests meet this requirement.

Enquiries made in relation to Requests 1, 3 (not including information regarding FOI requests), 6, 7(not including information regarding FOI requests), 8, 9 and 10 have identified that even to establish if we hold the data you have sought, in these Requests, would require a manual trawl of PSNI’s records – hence exceeding the FOI legislative cost of 18 hours as set by the Secretary of State.

The information sought in these Requests are not held centrally and to establish if information is held would require liaising with all officers from all departments, and a manual trawl through electronic systems, to ascertain if there was any emails or correspondence that referenced K9 Search and Rescue NI and if these correspondences were whistleblowing reports. With over 6,000 officers serving in the PSNI, it is estimated that it would grossly exceed the 18 hour cost limit to carry out the searches required to confirm if this information is held.

In addition, PSNI have conducted initial searches within the relevant branches to ascertain whether they hold the information you have requested in regards to specific PSNI policies and procedures used to protect staff from malicious communications or complaints.

The business area when estimating the time taken, has taken into account the following four items:

• Determining if the information is held
• Locating the information;
• Retrieving the information and
• Extracting the information to be disclosed from the other information.

Consequently, due to the extensive manual searches that would be required, for the PSNI to determine if the relevant information is or is not held would be over the cost limits.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter should be considered as a Refusal Notice, and the request has therefore been closed. 

Advice and assistance
You may wish to submit a refined request in order that the cost of complying with your request may be facilitated within the ‘appropriate limit’. In compliance with Section 16 of the Act, we have considered how your request may be refined to bring it under the appropriate limit. 

Unfortunately, due to the extensive amount of searches that would be required to determine if the information is held, there is no refinement that would bring Requests 1, 6, 8, 9 and 10 under the appropriate limit. We would also advise that even if Requests 1, 8, 9 and 10 were not over the cost limit, it is likely the PSNI would neither confirm nor deny if this information is held as it may identify if criminal complaints have or have not been made which could prejudice any potential investigations, now or in the future.

However, we can provide a response to Requests 2, 4 and 5 within the appropriate limit. We can also provide a response to Request 3, in terms of FOI requests only, relating to K9 Search and Rescue NI. Additionally, for Request 7, we can respond to this request in terms of the number of Internal Reviews that have been carried out for FOI Requests relating to K9 Search and Rescue NI.

Submission of a refined request would be treated as a new request, and considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, including consideration of relevant Part II exemptions.