FAQ Details
Police Helicopter - 398/11
Dated: 15 Jun 2011
Date of request: 26/05/2011
Date of response: 15/06/2011
Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
Thank you for your email dated 26 May 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:
1. How many times was the force helicopter used for purposes not relating directly to the detection of crime in:a) 2008/09
b) 2009/10
c) 2010/11
2. For each of the instances where the helicopter was used for purposes not relating directly to the detection of crime, please confirm:
a) Where the helicopter was taken
b) The date the flight was made
c) Which, if any passengers, were carried on board during the flight
d) The purpose of the flight
In response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention. This response is given on behalf of Northumbria Police and Durham Police.
The North East Air Support Unit (NEASU) is a consortium of the Northumbria and Durham police forces with its purpose to provide efficient and effective air support to both police forces. The NEASU first became operational in 1989 as Northumbria Police Air Support Unit, now supporting over 4,000 Northumbria police officers and police staff. The North East Air Support Unit utilises a Eurocopter EC135T2 helicopter that is fully equipped for police operations and is jointly owned by both police forces. On average the helicopter is in flight 1,240 hours each year and can be deployed in support of specific incidents and operations, such as searching for suspects and missing people as well as carrying out lifesaving tasks.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Operations Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police. It was estimated that to provide information which meets the criteria of your request would take over the prescribed limits as set out it in the Act. It was estimated that to extract this information would take over 40 hours, therefore Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act would apply. This section does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimated that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit of 18 hours, equating to £450.00.
On this occasion, the Force has decided not to apply this exemption. This response is therefore given outside the boundaries of the Act. Whilst we have not applied the exemption on this occasion, please note that similar requests in the future will continue to attract this exemption and such information may not be provided.
I have decided to disclose the located information to you as follows. Please note that this response covers the areas of Northumbria Police and Durham Police.
The documents attached below, contain information relevant to your request. Please note that empty cells in the 'passenger' column denotes no passengers other than crew.
You may also be interested in the information published on the Northumbria Police website regarding the force helicopter. To further aid and assist you I have supplied the relevant link below.
http://www.northumbria.police.uk/
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
Downloads
FOI Complaint PolicyFOI 398-11 Northumbria 2008-09
FOI 398-11 Northumbria 2009-10
FOI 398-11 Northumbria 2010-11
FOI 398-11 Durham 2008-09
FOI 398-11 Durham 2009-10
FOI 398-11 Durham 2010-11
FOI 398-11 Cumbria 2008-09
FOI 398-11 Others 2008-09