Administrative/Informal access Arrangements
Ben Fairless made this Freedom of Information request to Western Australia Police as part of a batch sent to 7 authorities
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Western Australia Police,
Can you let me know if you have any guidelines which detail what non-personal information can be provided without a formal FOI request (This is sometimes referred to as "Administrative Access Arrangements")?
Please consider this request informally if possible, otherwise consider it a formal FOI request if possible.
Yours faithfully,
Ben Fairless
Hi Ben
Thanks for your enquiry.
Please find below link to Freedom of Information Act 1992 Act https://www.slp.wa.gov.au/legislation/st... .
Meanwhile I have attached Information Commissioner's link for additional information.
http://foi.wa.gov.au/en-us/FTP013 .
Kind Regards
Jeena Jamaludin PD86855
Administration Officer
WA Police Freedom of Information
PH:6229 5911
Dear Freedom Of Information SMAIL,
Thanks for the information. In the FOI Link you provided it says:
"Before making an FOI access application, check with the agency about whether you can obtain the documents without the need for an application.
The best approach is to first ask the agency that holds the documents you are seeking whether the documents are publicly available or can be made available to you without a formal access application. It is often effective to talk to someone in the agency."
What I'm asking is if WAPOL has any internal guidelines or procedures on what information can be released without a formal access application.
Yours sincerely,
Ben Fairless
Good afternoon Ben
WA Police does not have any internal guidelines or procedures on what information can be released without a formal access application. You must remember however that an access application can only be with reference to a request for a document, and is not associated with a request for information. These are quite distinct from one another. In your query where you have stated 'information', I have taken this to mean documents as you later refer to an access application, which can only be with reference to documents. Therefore the answer to your query is No.
WA Police do have several products which provide information however. These products naturally all fall outside of the purview of FOI, for the reasons stated above. You can peruse these products by following the below link:
https://www.police.wa.gov.au/Police-Dire...
I trust this information assists.
Regards
Mike Karra I Coordinator – FOI
Information Release Centre I Western Australia Police
Ph: (08) 6229 5912
e: [email address]