Systems

Request: FOI/52

Category: Finance and Procurement - Contracts

Subject: 4100 - Systems

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 does hold some information to which your request relates and this is being provided to you.

We do not however hold information in relation to request numbers 6 or 7 below. We further consider the information you seek in request numbers 1-5 and 8-13 are exempt by virtue of Sections 24 and 31 of FOIA and have detailed our rationale as to why this exemption applies. We have also provided you with links to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office which we have followed in responding to your request.

Request
Please advise the products that your forces uses for;

Request 1
Command & Control Application

Request 2
ICCS Application Mobile Working Application(s)

Request 3
Mobile Working Hardware

Request 4
Airwave Handsets

Request 5
Airwave Mobile Sets

Request 6
ICCS Desktop Sets

Answer 6
This information is not held.

Request 7
ICCS Portable Sets

Answer 7
This information is not held.

Request 8
ICCS Infrastructure

Request 9
Detail if these products are owned outright, leased or part of a managed service. Where products are owned outright, list any support contracts for these.

Request 10
Detail any managed service contracts, start dates & renewal dates.

Request 11
If any of the above products & technologies are due to be replaced and their replacement has been chosen, also detail the requested information for these.

Request 12
Where products are shared with another service/force/agency, please detail this and who the lead service/force/agency is.

Request 13
Where there is more the one instance of an application in your organisation, please also detail that. For example, you may have multiple, single site, unconnected ICCS setups rather than one, mjlti-site, connected ICCS setup. In this context, the former would be considered more than one instance whereas the latter would be considered a single instance.

Answers 1-5 and 8-13
Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:

    a. states that fact,

    b. specifies the exemption in question and

    c. states (if not otherwise 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 exemption/s, as well as the factors the Department considered when deciding where the public interest lies, are listed below:

SECTION 24(1) - NATIONAL SECURITY: Information which does not fall within section 23(1) is exempt information if exemption from section
1(1)(b) is required for the purpose of safeguarding national security.

SECTION 31(1)(a)(b) - LAW ENFORCEMENT: (1) Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30 is exempt information if its
disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to prejudice - (a) the prevention or detection of crime, (b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.

SECTION24 (1) and SECTION 31(1)(a)(b) - Evidence of Harm
Every effort should be made to release information under Freedom of Information.  However a FOIA response is considered to be a release to the world as once the information is published the public authority have no control over what use is made of that information.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and, protecting the communities we serve. In order to achieve these objectives all forces have a telephony and communications network infrastructure to support the vital information technology essential to front line services. Disclosure of specific IT services, capabilities, or the lack thereof, in concert with any formal acknowledgement of strategic deficiency would reveal intricacies of those systems thereby highlighting vulnerabilities and compromising individual force information assurance. 

As this request has been received nationally, disclosure would enable a geographical picture to be drawn up by those individuals who are intent on ‘hacking" or defeating police systems; some of these individuals may include terrorists or terrorist organisations. In terms of duty of care, this would be detrimental to the public at large as disclosure could assist a malicious actor by highlighting vulnerable forces and leaving those forces open to disruption of Information Technology systems; thus compromising the effective delivery of operational law enforcement which in turn, is met by an increase of
criminal offending. 

Public Interest Test
Factors favouring disclosure
Providing information in respect of the PSNI's network infrastructure would allow the public to be better informed on the health state and performance of said Information Technology platform. In addition, forces are required to demonstrate efficient services to local taxpayers and satisfy
audit requirements. This would provide transparency with regard to the use of public funds in so much as highlighting that funds are being used to correctly and appropriately ensure all forces have adequate infrastructure, which results in the smooth running of force Technology systems.

Factors favouring non-disclosure -
Whilst there is public interest in providing reassurance that police forces are appropriately and effectively dealing with any threats posed by terrorist organisations against police force Technology capabilities, there is a strong public interest in safeguarding National Security and the welfare and safety of the general public at large. Any disclosure has the potential to undermine current and future data integrity, which in turn compromises the PSNI's mandate to protect the security of the United Kingdom, e.g. counter-terrorism activity.  The risk of significant harm or even death to the community at large would be increased. Any disclosure of information that may lead to compromise of force IT systems which ultimately
affects law enforcement capabilities and hinders the prevention and detection of crime or terrorism, is not in the interest of the public.

Balance Test
The security of the country is of paramount importance and the PSNI will not divulge any information if to do so would undermine law enforcement and therefore compromise the work of the police service. Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing and force infrastructure, including any initiatives conducted with the private sector in relation to impacting on the crime or terrorist threat, there is a very strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of these arrangements in this very sensitive area.

The points above highlight the merits for and against disclosure of the requested information.  Disclosure would undoubtedly provide a greater openness and transparency to the community at large with regard to the Information Technology resources available to the police, and whilst there is always a public interest in the transparency of how a police force delivers effective law enforcement and ensures the National Security of the United Kingdom is robust, there is a very strong public interest in safeguarding the intricacies and tactical capabilities of the systems used when dealing with information.

In every case, public safety is the paramount focus and any information which would place individuals at risk and compromise the National Security of the United Kingdom, no matter how generic, is not in the public interest.  The effective delivery of operational law enforcement and the National Security of the United Kingdom is crucial and of paramount importance to every force. This would have a negative impact on law enforcement and national security.