Allegations against officers

Firstly, in accordance with the provisions of the DPA and FOI please identify under which statutory instrument or piece of legislation do the allegations of crime reported against Cheshire Police Authority members fall under the IPCC (Transitional Provisions) Order?

Secondly, please identify the previously submitted complaints formally reported against named officers as submitted by me to the appropriate authority under section 67 of the Police Act 1996 setting out allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice which Cheshire Police Authority and the IPCC have both relied upon to dismiss the complaints against.

Thirdly, it is accepted that there were previously submitted allegations of crime reported against named officer it is a matter of record that Mr xxxxx was identified within the original correspondence containing the allegations of serious corruption reported to Cheshire Police Authority in October 2003, please identify the lawful grounds relied upon by Cheshire Police Authority to allow xxxx to remain in post as DCC with responsibility for the Professional Standards Department, effectively being in charge of the investigation into allegations of serious corruption reported against himself.

I have now considered your request and I will deal firstly with section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, subject access provision. This provision is the right of access to personal data, specifically the right to access personal data of which you the applicant is the data subject. I am unable to identify any personal data of you the data subject within your request.

I now turn to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and having considered the whole content of your request I have to draw your attention to my response dated 16/08/2010 to your previous request for information. For ease of reference I have copied the relevant paragraph as follows:

The Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire Police Authority do not take the application of S14 of the Act lightly, as the removal of an individual’s or group’s legal right is a serious matter. If you wish to submit any more requests for information under the FOIA legislation, Cheshire Constabulary will reconsider its stance on a case-by-case basis. Provided that future requests do not cause any of the effects outlined in this letter or fulfil the Information Commissioner’s definition of vexatious, then they will be considered. If not, this letter serves as notice that you will receive no further correspondence in relation to any requests.

This request is subsequent to your previous requests No. 2625, 2626, 2630 to 2634 which the Authority has refused under section 14, Vexatious. It is my opinion that this request is substantially similar in nature to the vexatious request being concerned with your complaints against the Police Authority, the Constabulary and its staff and serves no purpose other than to harass the Authority. This request is refused.

I draw your attention to what the Act says

Section 17

5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.

(6) Subsection (5) does not apply where-

(a) the public authority is relying on a claim that s14 applies,

(b) the authority has given the applicant a notice, in relation to a previous request for information, stating that it is relying on a such a claim, and

(c) it would in all circumstances be unreasonable to expect the authority to serve a further notice under subsection (5) in relation to the current request.

This serves as further notice to you that the Police Authority and the Constabulary will not acknowledge or respond to any further requests as outlined above.