FAQ Details
Facebook/Twitter Disciplinary Action - 776/11
Dated: 07 Jun 2011
Date of request: 04/10/2011
Date of response: 24/10/2011
Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')(FOIA)
Thank you for your email dated 4 October 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:
For each of the last three calendar years (2008, 2009, and 2010), please could you give the number of officers in your force disciplined for comments / other activity on Facebook?
Could you break these down with as much detail as possible about the date of the offence, the nature of the offence, and the punishment given, please?For each of the last three calendar years (2008, 2009, and 2010), please could you give the number of officers in your force disciplined for comments / other activity on Twitter?
Could you break these down with as much detail as possible about the date of the offence, the nature of the offence, and the punishment given, please?
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 by Northumbria Police.
I have decided to disclose the located information to you as follows.
The information below has been extracted from a 'live' database and may be subject to the addition and deletion of complaints, complainants and subjects after the initial extraction of data used for the purposes of this report. Information has been extracted based upon complaints attached to cases finalised between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2010.
The summaries of allegation in complaint, conduct and misconduct cases were then examined using the following keyword searches to identify relevant allegations; 'Facebook', 'Twitter', 'Social' and 'Networking'.
Please note that this information relates to Police Officers only.
Case Recorded Allegation Type Allegation Summary Outcome 18/10/2010 Honesty and Integrity Allegation of inappropriate comments on Facebook Case to answer - management action No information held.
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.