FOI Officer Misconduct (1319-2023/24)

Request
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from your police force:

Q1. The number of police officers and police staff suspended with full pay due to misconduct allegations during the financial years 2018-19; 2019-20; 2020-21; 2021-22; 2022-23
Q2. The total amount paid in wages to officers and staff who were suspended with full pay due to misconduct allegations during the financial years 2018-19; 2019-20; 2020-21; 2021-22; 2022-23
Q3. The average time it took the force to investigate and close misconduct allegations during the five-year period mentioned above, including how long it took (in days) for the lengthiest investigation to conclude
Q4. The number of officers and staff who were dismissed due to misconduct during the period
Q5. The number of staff and officers who left the force but would have been dismissed during the period.

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.

Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

I note that due to the nature of this information, I can confirm that it is correct as of 25/09/2024 but is not comparable to any other data.

Q1. Please see the table below which details the number of North Yorkshire Police officers suspended from duty from 01 April 2018 to 31 March 2023, broken down by year.

Q2. Please see the table below which details the costs to North Yorkshire Police for the salary payments associated with officers suspended from duty from 01 April 2018 to 31 March 2023, broken down by year.                                             

Q3. No information held – North Yorkshire Police do not record averages.

Q4 & Q5. The information you have requested is published on the North Yorkshire Police website under the following link.

Misconduct Hearing Outcomes 2016 - 2024 | North Yorkshire Police

I have therefore decided to exempt providing you with a response to Q4 pursuant to Section 21 Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

For any ongoing investigations I am exempting any data pursuant to Section 31(1)(g) by virtue of 2(b) the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct which is improper and section 40(2) Personal information. Please see exemption explanation below.

Exemption Explanation

Section 31(1)(g) (2b) – Law Enforcement
Section 31 is a prejudice-based qualified exemption and there is a requirement to articulate the harm as well as carrying out a public interest test.

Evidence of Harm
As you may be aware, disclosure under FOIA is a release to the public at large. Whilst not questioning the motives of the applicant, releasing any information held regarding details of cases where investigations are/have taken place would prejudice a fair and just process in ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct matter which is improper.

Factors favouring disclosure under Section 31
Releasing information would allow the public to have a better understanding of the types of complaints that are being made by the public or staff members.

Information would ensure transparency around such conduct matters.

Factors against disclosure under Section 31
It can be argued that there are risks associated with providing information in relation to conduct matters, as full details and accounts may not have fully been assessed in respect of truth /conduct. This in turn would affect the forces ability to carry out law enforcement as information could be used against officers or staff where there is no justification to do so, as cases may not be upheld.

Standards of Professional Behaviour are expected by the police and the public on how police officers should behave. As such there are already processes in place for disclosing such matters e.g. ‘ gross miscounts’ when certain cases have been held. Disclosing any other information may affect the public’s confidence in the police service and also affect those who may have been involved in the cases. As information is provided in confidence, to reveal such information would prejudice that sharing of information between the public/victim and the police. 

Balance test
Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing misconduct matters, there is a very strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police investigations in these highly sensitive areas. As such any disclosure of information will only be overridden in exceptional circumstances. It is our opinion that for these issues the balancing test for exempting your request is not made out.

Section 40 – Personal Information
I am exempting providing you with any further response pursuant to Section 40(2) Freedom of Information Act (the Act). This is to ensure anonymity for those involved in each case.

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Section 21 – Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
Section 21 is an absolute class based exemption and I am not required to consider the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.