Identity of Fugitive Criminals

For clarification, I wish to establish whether Cheshire Constabulary have ever taken the decision to withhold the identity of such offenders on human rights or data protection grounds.

This is a follow on from 3119 as set out below:

1. Is it Cheshire Constabulary’s policy to withhold the identity of fugitive criminals wanted by the police in relation to a breach of licence or suspected new offences, or repeat offenders, where the individual has been convicted of an offence carrying a custodial sentence, on the basis of their right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as enacted by the Human Rights Act 1998?

2. If this is Cheshire Constabulary’s policy, how many times has such a decision been made since the policy was introduced?

3. Please list the cases to which your response to question 2 relates, and relevant background (subject to redaction strictly required by law).

Our response was

Question 1: Cheshire Constabulary does not hold such a policy. The Cheshire Constabulary will always take into account Human Rights and Data Protection legislation and any guidance issued by the Information Commissioner, when dealing with such matters. This and other such legislation is designed to protect the rights of individuals and compliance with it removes the need for us to have a separate policy.

Questions 2 & 3. N/A

In accordance with section 1(1) (a) of the Act our response is provided below;

From our preliminary assessment, we estimate that compliance with your request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000. This is currently £450. The costs relate to confirming or denying that we hold the information you have requested.

As the Data protection Act 1998 is the principle legislation that governs the way the Constabulary handles all personal data, adherence to its principles are a primary consideration for all staff when making decisions in relation to the use of such data. With that in mind it would be necessary to first of all identify the type of person that you are specifically interested in from the many thousands who have been sought by the police at some time or another. If that were possible any file or record would have to be manually examined to see if there was any such decision made and recorded.

I cannot think of a situation where the Data Protection Act would prevent us from disclosing an identity if it was necessary to do so for the administration of justice. (my opinion).

I am unable to offer a realistic alternative of identifying whether we hold the information you have requested.