Request guidelines & instructional materials dealing with protecting the privacy of those in custody
Dear NSW Police Force,
Could you please send through the guidelines, training documents and instructional materials provided to members of the police force since 2012 to handle the privacy of people who are held in custody, specifically relating to the identity and personal details of those people.
If possible, please treat this as an administrative informal request. Otherwise please proceed with my request as a formal information request under the Act.
Yours faithfully,
Belinda Lopez
Dear Ms Lopez
Receipt is acknowledged of your correspondence requesting information
received on 15 November 2016
Your request for information is invalid and is unable to be accepted
because it does not clearly state that it is under the Government
Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA). To assist, I have enclosed a
NSW Police Force GIPA Act access application form for you to complete.
Please return the completed application, and your payment of $30.00,
payment in the form of credit card (Mastercard or Visa) cheque/money order
made payable to the Commissioner of Police, together with the application
form and proof of identity to:
Information Access Unit
Locked Bag 5102
Parramatta NSW 2124.
or alternatively if paying by credit card can be returned by email to:
[email address]
Rights of Review
If you are not satisfied with this decision you have the following rights
of review under Part 5 of the Act:
1. Lodge a request for internal review to this agency within 20 working
days from the date of this decision. For information see
[1]www.police.nsw.gov.au /Services/Information Access Unit (GIPA) or phone
8835 6888.
2. Lodge a request for an external review to the Information and Privacy
Commission (IPC) within 40 working days from the date of this decision.
For further enquiries see [2]www.ipc.nsw.gov.au or phone 1800 472 679.
Note: A request for a further review cannot be made to the IPC where the
matter has already been decided by the NSW Civil and Administrative
Tribunal (NCAT).
3. Lodge a request for external review to the NCAT within 40 working days
from the date of this decision or 20 working days from the date of the
decision by the IPC. For further enquiries see [3]www.ncat.nsw.gov.au or
phone 9377 5711.
If you have any inquiries in relation to this matter, please contact this
office on (02) 8835 6888.
Team Leader
External Information Access Unit (EIAU)
Information Access & Subpoena Unit | Operational Information Agency |
New South Wales Police Force // Phone: 02 8835 6888 | Fax: 02
8835 6811 | Email: [email address]
From: Belinda Lopez <[FOI #2745 email]>
To: GIPA requests at NSW Police Force <[NSW Police Force request email]>
Date: 15/11/2016 20:41
Subject: Government Information (Public Access) request - Request
guidelines & instructional materials dealing with protecting the privacy
of those in custody
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Dear NSW Police Force,
Could you please send through the guidelines, training documents and
instructional materials provided to members of the police force since 2012
to handle the privacy of people who are held in custody, specifically
relating to the identity and personal details of those people.
If possible, please treat this as an administrative informal request.
Otherwise please proceed with my request as a formal information request
under the Act.
Yours faithfully,
Belinda Lopez
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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #2745 email]
Is [NSW Police Force request email] the wrong address for Government Information
(Public Access) requests to NSW Police Force? If so, please contact us
using this form:
[4]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[5]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
Dear #GIPAAPP,
Thanks for your message. You have indicated that “Your request for information is invalid and is unable to be accepted because it does not clearly state that it is under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA).”.
I just want to clarify that my original email was in fact a valid GIPA request under the act. The subject of my original message stated it was a “Government Information (Public Access) request". I also requested that you "proceed with my request as a formal information request under the Act.”
Just to reiterate, I would like you to send through "the guidelines, training documents and instructional materials provided to members of the police force since 2012 to handle the privacy of people who are held in custody, specifically relating to the identity and personal details of those people."
This may be handled as an administrative informal request. Otherwise, Otherwise please proceed with my request as a formal information request under the Act.
Yours sincerely,
Belinda Lopez
Good morning Belinda,
Your original email did state your request was under the Government
Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA). Apologies for the confusion.
You are seeking to have the request handled as an 'informal
administrative' request.
Informal release is subject to reasonable conditions NSWPF as an agency
may impose and NSWPF are not required to consider an informal release.
We will not accept your informal release application as made below.
Pursuant to Section 41 of the GIPA Act, a request for government
information is not valid unless it complies with the following
requirements:
(a) it must be in writing sent or lodged to an office of the agency
(b) it must clearly indicate that it is an access application made under
the GIPA Act
(c) it must be accompanied by a fee of $30
(d) it must state a postal address as the address for correspondence in
connection with the application
(c) it must include such information as is reasonable necessary to enable
the government information applies for to be identified.
To assist you in submitting a valid application, please find attached a
formal access application and credit card authority for payment of the
application fee of $30.
Please be aware that for requests for 'non-personal' information,
processing charges of $30 per hour of work may apply (after the first hour
which is provided free of charge). Before undertaking any work that
requires additional payment, we will contact you to obtain your approval
to proceed.
Kind regards,
From: #GIPAAPP/Staff/NSWPolice
To: Michael McIntosh/2004231/Staff/NSWPolice@NSWPolice
Date: 29/11/2016 07:58
Subject: Fw: Government Information (Public Access) Application
[DLM=For-Official-Use-Only]
Sent by: Monika Krammer
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Wendy Bacon left an annotation ()
It's a bit disturbing that NSW police would make such a basic error of interpretation. You have made a request in writing and now that they have accepted that it is a request I would forward a postal order for $30 or give them credit card details over the phone for $30. I found with Planning and Transport that if I asked them to continue do through my Right to Know email, they did
Luke Bacon left an annotation ()
The NSW Police force states “Your request for information is invalid and is unable to be accepted because it does not clearly state that it is under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA).”.
You can however see in their message the the subject of the email they received was “Government Information (Public Access) request - Request guidelines & instructional materials dealing with protecting the privacy of those in custody”. Your message also states “please proceed with my request as a formal information request under the Act.”
I guess they missed that.
You could simply send a quick reply reiterating that this is in fact a valid GIPA request under the Act.