Information Compliance &
Record Management Unit
Mr Edward Brownlee / Our ref: GSA1802/15
When calling or telephoning
please ask for Caroline Barker
08thSeptember2015
Dear Mr Edward Brownlee,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 1802/15
I write in connection with your request for information dated 19th July 2015. I note you seek access to the following information:-
This is a Freedom of Information Act request in regard to GMP guidance and directions.
1. When a Human Rights Act abuse; therefore a crime, is reported by a citizen, what does the service do with the victim or witnesses report?
2. What guidance is in place to direct or guide GMP staff in dealing with such a serious crime?
3. Do any instructions or guidance exist that inform staff to reply to HRA crime reports in the following ways?;
i) This is not a matter we deal with.
ii) We advice you make a complaint to the person/group/company/department
in question.
iii) Try speaking to CAB or one of the Human Rights charities.
4. Given every Officer has affirmed they will protect the Human Rights of individuals. Does it appear as a directive only, in their affirmation of service, or are they instructed in how to deal with such crimes when they are encountered? (please supply any instructions, guidance and directions)
5. What directions exist for the reporting of any crime to the GMP? (a flow chart would be most appreciated)
6. In abiding with the law themselves, does GMP consider Magna Carta clause 29 as it stands in UK legislation today?
7. How does the consideration of the legal requirement to obey Magna Carta 29 affect the workings of the GMP? (directions and guidance please)
8. What guidance does GMP require staff to read in regard to Human Rights Act 1998 and how it affects their duties?
9. How does GMP check and record details of what required reading has been completed by staff?
10. How does GMP tackle the problem of staff failing to read required guidance?
Result Of Searches
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within Greater Manchester Police and we can confirm the following information.
Question 1,
Not every human rights abuse is necessarily a criminal offence. The ones that are i.e. Article 2 right to life, are not likely to be reported as a human rights abuse, it is likely that they would be reported as a criminal offence i.e murder/attempted murder etc. and then investigated appropriately. The victim and witnesses would be dealt with the same as any other crime that is reported to GMP.
Question 2,
There is no guidance in place directing GMP officers to deal specifically with a Human Rights Act abuse. However, for the reporting of criminal offences that have been committed that would also fall under human rights abuses, i.e. right to life (murder) or right to private life (which depending on the circumstances, maybe a Data Protection Act offence) would be dealt with as GMP officers are trained to deal with the reporting of any other crime.
Question 3,
There are no such instructions or guidance produced; reported crimesare not recorded in terms of whether/how they contravene the Human Rights Act 1998. If the offence is notifiable, it is recorded as the offence it is (e.g. murder) not as a contravention of the relevant Human Rights Act 1998 Article (e.g. Article 2 Right to Life). GMP officers would deal with such offences the same as any other offence that is reported to them.
Question 4,
There is no directive for a different approach to offences that contravene a Human Rights Article to those offences that do not.
Police officers do attest to uphold human rights of individuals on gaining the office of a constable:
Every member of a police force maintained for a police area and every special constable appointed for a police area shall, on appointment, be attested as a constable by making a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 4 (below) –
(a) repealed
(b) before a justice of the peace having jurisdiction within the police area.
Schedule 4 (form of wording for the declaration)
I . . . . . of . . . . . do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the Queen in the office of constable, with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.Whether they are instructed to deal with anything over and above that I don't know, again I think the training school would be best placed to answer that.
Question 5,
Other than dialling 999, there are various website available on how the public can report a crime. E.g. (in association with the Home Office):
Question 6 & 7,
The Magna Carta does not feature in GMP’s Operational legislation, neither within our initial police training or continuous professional development training during an officer’s career. That said, the key principals of Section 29 of the Magna Carta appear to be a golden thread through our current legislation, specifically Section 24 of the Police and Criminal evidence act 1984 which relates directly to the Section in many ways.
Magna Carta Section 29:NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will we not pass upon him, nor [X1condemn him,] but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man; we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.
Section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 provides for the power of arrest for constables for all offences.
24(1) A constable may arrest without a warrant -
(a) anyone who is about to commit an offence;
(b) anyone who is in the act of committing an offence;
(c) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be about to commit an offence;
(d) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be committing an offence.
24(2) If a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence has been committed, he may arrest without a warrant anyone whom he has reasonable grounds to suspect of being guilty of it.
24(3) If an offence has been committed, a constable may arrest without a warrant -
(a) anyone who is guilty of the offence;
(b) anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be guilty of it.
24(4) But the power of summary arrest (see note (iii)) conferred by subsection (1), (2) or (3) is exercisable only if the constable has reasonable grounds for believing that for any of the reasons mentioned in subsection (5) it is necessary to arrest the person in question.
24(5) The reasons are -
(a) to enable the name of the person in question to be ascertained (in the case where the constable does not know, and cannot readily ascertain, the person's name, or has reasonable grounds for doubting whether a name given by the person as his name is his real name);
(b) correspondingly as regards the person's address;
(c) to prevent the person in question -
(i) causing physical injury to himself or any other person;
(ii) suffering physical injury;
(iii) causing loss of or damage to property;
(iv) committing an offence against public decency (subject to subsection (6)); or
(v) causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway;
(d) to protect a child or other vulnerable person from the person in question;
(e) to allow the prompt and effective investigation of the offence or of the conduct of the person in question;
(f) to prevent any prosecution for the offence from being hindered by the disappearance of the person in question.
24(6) Subsection (5)(c)(iv) applies only where members of the public going about their normal business cannot reasonably be expected to avoid the person in question.
Notes
(i) This section is the comprehensive arrest power as most others have been repealed. Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 brought in the revised power of arrest. However, the power of arrest for breach of the peace remains unchanged. Also there is no need to satisfy the necessity test for an arrest under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
(ii) Guidance is given to a constable on the exercise of the powers in Code of Practice G issued under section 66 of PACE.
(iii) 'Summary arrest', in this context, means an arrest without warrant (regardless of whether the offence in question is a summary, either way or indictable only offence).
(iv)The exercise of the arrest power will be subject to a test of necessity based around the nature and circumstances of the offence and the interests of the criminal justice system. An arrest will only be justified if the constable believes it is necessary for any of the reasons set out in section 24(5).
(v) Arrest must never be used simply because it can be used. The use of the power must be fully justified and officers exercising the power should consider whether the necessary objectives can be met by other, less intrusive means, such as summons, fixed penalty notice, penalty notice for disorder; or by using street bail following arrest rather than taking the person to the police station.
(vi) An officer must have reasonable suspicion before he/she arrests a suspect. The officer does not have to witness the offence him/herself and can rely on information provided by other sources such as a colleague or an entry on PNC but an order from a superior officer to arrest a person would not meet the requirement (see O'Hara v CC of RUC below).
(vii) 'Trigger powers' - arrest 'triggers off' a set of other powers (see list below) available to officers in order to investigate the offence. The threshold for exercise of these powers is indictable offences (i.e. offences triable on indictment or triable either way).
PACE 'trigger powers' (Authorisation required)
s4(4)Road checks (Superintendent)
s8(1)(a)Search warrant (Magistrate)
s17(1)(b) Entry for the purpose of arrest (n/a)
s18(1) Entry and search after arrest (Inspector unless s18(5)(b)of PACE applies)
s32(2)(b) Search premises for evidence after arrest (n/a)
s42(1)(b) Apply for extended detention(to 36hrs) (Superintendent)
s43(4)(b) Warrants for further detention (up to 72hrs) (Magistrate)
s44 Extension of warrants for further detention (up to 96hrs) (Magistrate)
s56(5A)(a) Delay right to have someone informed of arrest (Inspector)
s58(8A)(a) Delay access to legal advice (Superintendent)
(viii) Summary offences do not attract these powers, save for those offences listed at section 17(1)(c)(i) and (caa)of PACE. This means that a number of summary offences previously listed in Schedule 1A of PACE ( e.g taking a vehicle without consent s12 of the Theft Act 1968) do not have access to these 'trigger powers'. A list of summary offences which no longer attract trigger powers under sections 17(1)(b), 18(1), 32(2)(b) and 42(1)(b) of PACE.
(ix)The power also removes the necessity in some cases to be in uniform.
(x) The power for citizens arrest is contained in s24A
(xi) For further information on the the term 'in the act of committing an offence' please see Powers of arrest - found committing (FAQ)
(xii) For discussion on the issue of arrest in the absence of a complaint please see Powers of Arrest (FAQ).
(xiii) Schedule 2 - Preserved powers of arrest (nb - no requirement to satisfy necessity test).
Question 8,
Inputs are included in the initial recruit training and then across all our training delivery in GMP at every rank level.
GMP delivers training on the Human Rights Act (ECHR) and our obligations and responsibilities to ensure everything we do is cogniscent of the respective articles and protocols.
GMP train officers at every rank in plan which is direct lift from the 1998 Human Rights Act and relates to:
Proportionate: Every decision and action we take must be proportionate to the circumstances faced at any given time.
Lawful: Our decisions and actions must be lawful at all times.
Accountable: We must be able to account at all times for our decisions and the rationale behind them.
Necessity: The decisions we make and the actions we take must be necessary to address the issues at play as well as ensuring the above 3 factors are also clearly apparent.
This is a golden thread through our training as we believe this will ensure public confidence in our approach.
Underpinning this, GMP also provides training to all our staff on the National Decision Model. This is a structured and sequential approach to decision making, with plan as the key approach when using the model to ensure transparency and ethics are at the centre of everything we do.
Question 9,
There are no checks in place in regards to establishing whether or not required reading has been completed by staff.
Question 10,
If staff have failed to read required guidance for instance information that hat has been stated within a Chief Cons Orders (Chief Cons Orders has the status of a lawful order), then failing to comply with such order is likely to be a breach of Regulation 20 of the Police Regulations 2003 and GMP’s Professional Standards Branch would look into such breaches etc.
Complaint Rights
Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further queries concerning this matter, please write or contact me on telephone number 0161-856-2529 quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Caroline Barker
Information Compliance & Records Management Unit
COMPLAINT RIGHTS
Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the decision is incorrect?
You have the right to require Greater Manchester Police to review their decision.
Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.
Ask to have the decision looked at again –
The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision letter.
That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and assist with any problems.
Complaint
If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of Greater Manchester Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding access to information, you can lodge a complaint with Greater Manchester Police to have the decision reviewed.
Complaints should be made in writing and addressed to:
Freedom of Information Officer
Greater Manchester Police
Police Headquarters
Openshaw Complex
Lawton Street
Openshaw
Manchester
M11 2NS
The Information Commissioner
After lodging a complaint with Greater Manchester Police if you are still dissatisfied with the decision you can make an application to the Information Commissioner for a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the Act.
For information on how to make an application to the Information Commissioner please visit their website at Alternatively, phone or write to:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 01625 545 700
Information Compliance & Records Management Unit, Information Services Branch, Business Operations,
Openshaw Complex, Lawton Street, Manchester, M11 2NS
Tel: 0161 856 2529, Fax: 0161 856 2535, Minicom: 0161 872 6633,
Email: