UKC

I'm going to put an FOI request in to my local police force regarding a meeting they had with a couple of special interest groups recently. The meeting was described as "productive" but the officer in question has ignored all four of my polite requests for some substance to that claim and has now, quite excitingly, blocked me on Facebook so that I can no longer post or ask questions. He has given the equivalent of a "no comment" interview and I've seen enough 24 hours in police custody to know that only happens when someone doesn't want to incriminate themselves.

My question, never having done anything like this before, is whether there are any useful phrases or words to use when submitting the request, or is it all fairly bog standard? Has anyone had experience of trying to get info out of the police in this manner?

Indiret experience of reading a lot of FOIAs submitted to my employer and my local council, and looking at how they apply exemptions to worm out of many of them, all via the “whatdotheyknow” website.

So in other words “armchair expert” advise that’s worth what you pay for it...

• Keep your letter as simple as possible.  
• Don’t request more than you really need/want.  
• Use simple, precise language.  
• If you’re asking more than one thing, do so as separate requests submitted some weeks apart.
• Don’t let the motivation for your asking seep through in to the letter (some of the requests I’ve read ooze personal vendetta).
• Google and read the grounds for Exemption under the FOIA and test your request against them.  

I used to work as a civil servant dealing with FOI requests when the Act first came into force.

You don't have to say that you're requesting it under FOI, but do so anyway. Be specific about what you want, e.g. any minutes, notes or recordings from meetings between x and y from date 1 to date 2.

Bear in mind the exemptions - if you think the information you want could fall under any, give reasons why you don't think it does (which they would then have to refute in their response).

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/data-privacy/foi/exemptions/

Keep in mind that FOI requests need to be INFORMATION not interpretation, justification for action/inaction, intentions etc. It needs to be a record they already have,  not something they would have to write for you. Eg so if you want to know why they did something, you need to ask for a report (or better still all reports) relating to an event. If that is likely to be many reports, start by asking for s list, then narrow down what you want. And don't take no for an answer, unless they give a reason which meets the exemption.

God information from everyone and a good point from Pbob. I'm after minutes of a meeting they held with gamekeepers and their representative bodies. Assuming there were any, and it wouldn't surprise me if there weren't.

FOI are generally for more tangible info’ Eg- What info do you have about me? How much money do you spend on boots for police officers?  If there is any personal info from other persons in it, then it can be with held or redacted accordingly. If it wasn’t a public meeting then you would be hard pressed to get anything. 

You are are wanting him to explain the word “productive “. Which could be explained as “they gave me tea and biscuits “ or “we have agreed to liaise more closely together as a part of our partnership working”.  Why they haven’t given a simple explanation, I don’t know and seems a little  unpolite.

Have you considered tapping the other groups or individuals at the meeting? as they won’t be under the same data protection  concerns as the Po Po. Loose tongues down the pubs and all that. You’ll get more from a face to face chat than a formal written request.

You cannot ask for or expect for opinions or interpretations under the FOI regs.  

So your best bet is to ask for the minutes appropriate to the meeting. - That is information and not opinion or interpretations, so I guess the officer was correct.  The request, as others have said is to be put in writing and you may have to pay a small administrative fee for the release of information.

I only know the how Local Government deals with FOI requests, but an authority can only charge if to answer the request question(s) would result in an unreasonable amount of staff time being used. This is generally interpreted as more than 20 hours work. 

GDPR?

They can't charge an admin fee under GDPR.

Thanks for the reply. The other groups at the meeting were The Gamekeepers' Organization, The Peak District Moorland Group (a group for gamekeepers and grouse moor owners) and Wildlife Crime Officers from South Yorks, West Yorks and Cheshire.

I emailed the PDMG and they were happy to tell me that the meeting was about the "serious rural crime" of people vandalising fenn and larsen traps. The truth is that the real "serious rural crime" is the destruction of birds of prey that is routinely carried out by the very people the police had a productive meeting with.

That and the lack of any reply to a simple question and then the blocking stinks, and gives me even less faith in the willingness of the police to deal with the destruction grouse moor owners and employees wreak on the moorland ecosystem.

From an FOI perspective, what do you want to see?  It strikes me from the above that there are two alleged crimes - the destruction of traps and the 'routine' destruction of birds of prey.  If the meeting was about the former then you are neither going to get any information about the latter, nor any sort of information about why it was not discussed (other than, perhaps, an agenda on which it is not listed)

I see more where you’re coming from now. I can understand your frustration about it. 

It’s annoying that the persons more than likely contributing to wildlife crimes are utilising  the police /rural crime teams time when they could be trying to detect wildlife crime.

It a shame that the wildlife can’t don their tweed pick up a phone and report the killing of their pal, produce the evidence and then whine to their MP when they don’t think enough is being done.

My poor humour aside though. Try not to loose faith in people and organisations. Try to understand them and how to motivate them to do what’s best.

Every luck. M.

They can't charge an admin fee under GDPR.

Quite right.  

But GDPR is primarily about personal information/data being stored securely and used lawfully.  

The OP is asking about FOI requests.  Which isn't necessarily the same thing.  And in this case is nothing to do with personal data.

It seems like you need to ask if there are any minutes of the meeting, and if you can have them. 

If you'd like more than one person to get involved in asking for them, and asking on facebook too, I'd be happy to oblige.