FOI Operation Snap Outcome (0193-2022/23)

Request

REQUEST 1: I would like to request an update on my submission via your Operation Snap Portal.

The incident itself took place on the A19 between Wand Lane & Roall Lane.

REQUEST 2: I made my first ever report to North Yorkshire Police Operation Snap.  I have previously made submissions to West Yorkshire Police and in doing so wish to understand your policy and procedures around the action you take and then feedback available to victims and or reporters of incidents via the Portal?

I am going to set out exactly how your force neighbour, West Yorkshire Police do this, as I consider their procedure to be an excellent example of how to handle and feedback on third party reporting.

West Yorkshire procedure is outlined as follow -

- A submission is made via the portal

- You receive an automatic email to confirm your submission with a reference number.  The email also states - "Please ensure your footage is not published on social media, including YouTube. If it is already published, please remove it immediately."

- Within 24 to 48 hours (excluding weekends) of submission you receive an email from the Op Snap Team.  This either states that they are NOT going to be taking any further action (NFA), and why, or most usually the following -

 "Many thanks for your recent submission via the West Yorkshire Police Safer Roads Submission Portal.

As a result, enquiries are ongoing to trace the driver involved so we can process them for the offence(s) identified. This may either be by way of an educational course, Conditional Offer of Fixed Penalty, or by a Court hearing.

I appreciate you taking your time to submit via the portal and I thank you for your contribution to improving road safety in West Yorkshire."

- It should be noted West Yorkshire policy is not to issue any warning letters.  They either state they will take NFA or action as per the above email.  I understand you may issue warning letter, so can you confirm this please in your response and what criteria you use for deciding to issue a warning letter please?

- West Yorkshire Police DO offer driver educational courses, if one has not been undertaken by the driver in the previous 3 years and is of course an appropriate action in response to the identified offence(s).

- Following the above email no other direct feedback is issued to the victim/reporter however, in order to provide feedback West Yorkshire Police now doing the following "There has been a significant public interest in the dash cam submissions made by the public and their outcomes. West Yorkshire Police has therefore decided to publish the full years' data for 2021, and then on a quarterly basis as of 01/01/2022.

The data will include:

    The transport mode of the footage received

    Offender Vehicle Make, Model and Colour

    Offence

    District where the offence took place    

    Recommended Disposal at the point of triage

    Month and Year of Submission

    Offence Location

An individual’s personal data is protected under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR - 'personal data' means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly.

To provide any additional information such as time of offence could identify a living individual therefore this is exempt under virtue of Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. "

This system allows victims/reporters to identify the incident(s) they have reported and the action taken (or ongoing) while at the same time keep within the Data Protection Act 2018 by not issuing personal data.  It also now means they don't have to deal with regular, multiple and individual FOI request from victims/reporters who are seeking feedback on actions taken and outcomes.

So, can you please outline your policy and procedures for your Operation Snap submissions in a similar vein as the above please? If you don't issue any feedback or outcomes for victims/reporters, other than via individual FOI, would you consider a similar system?

Part 1

Decision

Your request for information has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply some of the information requested. 

Section 40 – Personal Information

I am exempting a response to part 1 of your request relating to the specific outcome of the submission you made pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

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.

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.

Part 2

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.

North Yorkshire Police are currently implementing new software to improve the processing of dashcam and Bikecam footage. We are reviewing ways in which the reporting person is updated regarding their submission. Although we do not currently publish data relating to Op Snap, this may be something that is looked into in the future.

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.