Officers encouraged to donate

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.033590

I note you seek access to the following information:

The below is an extract from the Guardian newspaper published 30 October 2023. Under FOI I respectfully ask for the following :

1. A copy of said email.
2. Whilst the recepients will be redacted in line with GDPR, i would also ask that the total number of recipients is included.
3. If said email exists, I would like to know the BCU involved, and the rank only of the sender.

Andy George, the president of the National Black Police Association, said he had received multiple accounts from black officers who felt pressed to give money to PC Clapham and PC Franks, who were sacked for gross misconduct last week.

The pressure included an email sent to every member of one of the 12 basic command units – into which the Met police is divided – in which all officers were urged to hand over money for the sacked men, George said.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40(2)&(3) - Personal Data
Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement

Reason for decision

Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement - of the Act provides that any information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

I have claimed this exemption in that the requested records contain contact details and the email addresses of employees of the MPS. This information would, if released, provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour.

The release of the contact details of officers/staff, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them to do so. In this regard, a person within this intent would be likely to use this information to make inappropriate contact with officers/staff and/or send them vast amounts of unsolicited correspondence. This would disrupt the work of these members of staff and cause disruption to the work of the MPS, hindering their ability to both prevent and detect crime.

Having considered your request, I accept that there is a public interest in transparency when any request is made for police information. The public interest favouring release must be balanced against any associated risk and/or prejudice that would be caused through disclosure.

Having carefully considered this, I have found that the public release and publication of the contact details of officers/staff at the MPS, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour. Given this and the fact that the removal of this information does not detract from the records disclosed, I have found that the release of this information is not in the public interest.

Section 40(2)&(3) - Personal Information Section 40(2)(a)(b) of the Act provides that any information to which a request for information relates, is exempt information if the first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied. The first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) states that personal information is exempt if its disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. If the disclosure of the requested personal data would not contravene the data protection principles, the disclosure must also not contravene Sections 3A(b) and 3B of the Act.

Disclosure

Q1 - a copy of said email.

Please see below a redacted copy of the email.

Q2 - Whilst the recepients will be redacted in line with GDPR, I would also ask that the total number of recipients is included.

The email was sent to two depts: NE North East BCU (Newham and Waltham Forest) Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and NE North East BCU (Newham and Waltham Forest) Violence Suppression Unit (VSU). The total number of recipients is unknown. This information would not be held in a readily retrievable format and would result in a cost refusal as all officers would need to be contacted.

Q3 - If said email exists, i would like to know the BCU involved, and the rank only of the sender.

NE BCU – Acting Inspector