Freedom of Information Request

[Adasta]

An idea just popped into my head and I wondered what you all thought about it:

I think it might be possible to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to find out more about the extent to which the police follow-up the various reports it receives from cyclists. I'm pretty sure it's been used with regards to RoadSafe London to find out how many cases have actually been passed over for investigation by the Met.

This process could be useful for people who have reported accidents and want to see how much has actually been done by the police to investigate the incident. However, there could be a much wider scope: FOI requests could be requested from local councils etc. to find out data on or plans for various roads/cycle routes.

What do you think?

 

[gaz]

I'm aware of the one done on roadsafe london, it was just about general stats and not done on a case by case basis.

 

[Adasta]

I'm aware of the one done on roadsafe london, it was just about general stats and not done on a case by case basis.

But it could be, couldn't it? It's plausible that a person could request all information a local constabulary had about him/her in order to ascertain case details.

 

[gaz]

I doubt that will happen.

 

[rusky]

I think you might find that if you request it on a case by case basis they would reject the request based on the amount of time it would take to collate.

 

[Adasta]

I doubt that will happen.

Surrey Police Website[/url]"]Individuals already have the right of access to information about them ('personal data'), which is held on computer, and in some paper files, under the Data Protection Act 1998. As far as public authorities are concerned, Freedom of Information will extend this right to allow access to all the types of information held, whether personal or non-personal. That right came into ffect on 1st January 2005.

The website goes on to say that the police can apply for permission not to disclose information regarding ongoing investigations if they think it will harm any individual.

I think it's worth an email/letter if someone was involved in an incident.

 

[gaz]

The foi is for information held about you. So you couldn't use it to find information about cases which you aren't involved in

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The foi is for information held about you. So you couldn't use it to find information about cases which you aren't involved in

not true.
The FOI gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose

 

[gaz]

not true.
The FOI gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose

My mistake.

Good luck getting information from the police. They will claim DPA to fob you off.

 

[Adasta]

My mistake.

Good luck getting information from the police. They will claim DPA to fob you off.

Data Protection Act is another funny one. http://www.ico.gov.uk is an excellent source for info on it. You're right in saying that the police will probably try to block information because it involves a third party (in the case of an accident claim, for example). However, a .pdf file on the website does say:

You [e.g. the police] should consider whether it is possible to comply with the request without revealing information which relates to and identifies a third party individual. In doing so, you should not only take into account the information you are disclosing, but also any information which you reasonably believe the person making the request may have, or get hold of, that may identify the third party individual.

[...]

As [the police's] obligation is to provide information rather than documents, [they] may delete names or edit documents if the third party information does not form part of the requested information.

The key section, though, is as follows:

[F]urther to section 7(5) of the Act, [the police] are obliged to communicate as much of the information requested as [they] can without disclosing the identity of the third party individual.

I really think it could be worth hounding the police on this subject for info in circumstances where you think you may have been treated badly by the police, or as a way to "back yourself up" with a paper trail for insurance purposes.

 

[magnatom]

I've posted about this very subject before. Here is what I wrote...

I've been mulling over taking further action over this. This is where we could put the freedom of information act to good use.

I haven't thought through the exact questions yet, but it would be interesting to get from the procurator fiscal and CPS statistics on numbers of road traffic crimes reported by drivers, pedestrians and cyclists and the rates of those crimes being getting to court or other proceedings.

We could make this interesting for the press by getting cyclists in each force area to all send in the same requests at the same time. I think it would provide us with some very interesting data from which we would either find that cyclists perceive a problem that doesn't exist, or that there is in fact a problem.

We would have to get the stats split down into severity of incident etc to be meaningful. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Tommi]

An idea just popped into my head and I wondered what you all thought about it:

I think it might be possible to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to find out more about the extent to which the police follow-up the various reports it receives from cyclists. I'm pretty sure it's been used with regards to RoadSafe London to find out how many cases have actually been passed over for investigation by the Met.

I had exactly the same idea and was in the process of formulating a FOI request when I noticed someone else had already made similar request. The request was rejected based on the cost.

I wrote to London Assembly and asked if they could run up the numbers as I believe it would improve their "encourage cycling" message to have objective data showing incidents involving bicycles are taken as seriously as any other.

 

[rusky]

Ask them for a smaller amount of data then make subsequent small requests