FAQ Details
Social Media and Police Officers - 612/11
Dated: 07 Jun 2011
Date of request: 11/08/2011
Date of response: 12/08/2011
Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
Thank you for your email dated 11th August 2011 in which you made a request for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria Police.
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
a) How many complaints have their been against officers during the last year (April 2010 to March 2011) relating to their use of social media (such as Facebook or Twitter)
b) How many of those complaints were upheld?
c) A summary of each upheld complaint.
d) How the officers were disciplined in each case.
In response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Professional Standards Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held in part by Northumbria Police.
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you as follows.
Data was extracted based upon complaints attached to cases recorded between 01/04/2010 and 31/03/2011. The following information relates to Complaints against Police Officers only and does not include complaints against Special Constables, PCSO’s or other police staff. Allegations recorded as Conduct matters have not been included.
Keyword searches were conducted on the allegation summaries of the complaints using the following terms:
Facebook
Twitter
Social
Networking
Internet
1 complaint - withdrawn
The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.
How to complain
If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our complaints procedure which can be found at: http://www.northumbria.police.uk/foi/disclosurelog/foicomprights.asp
If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.
Yours sincerely
Michael Cleugh
Data Protection and Disclosure Advisor
Direct Dial: 01661 868347