If you want information from the Police Ombudsman’s Office we suggest the following step-by-step guide to help you ensure we respond to your request as quickly as possible.

(a) Go to the Police Ombudsman’s Publications Scheme.

The Police Ombudsman’s Office has a ‘Publication Scheme’ where we list all the documents and publications we have made public. The information you are seeking may be contained in one of these documents. To help you find what you are looking for; the scheme has divided those documents into classes of information. Here is a short guide to which Class of Information you may need to look at:

Having established what Class of Information might include the material you are seeking, go to the section you are interested in and you will see a list of Police Ombudsman documents which may contain the material you want. In most instances there will be a link to the document within that class of information on our Web site.

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If you cannot find the information you want, we will try finding it for you. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 the Police Ombudsman’s Office is committed to making as much information as it can freely available.

(There are certain types of information the law does not allow us to disclose, however. You can click on the link entitled Exemptions to view the types of information we may not be able to give you.)

For us to help you to get access to the information you must:

Make your request in writing, either to the email address info@policeombudsman.org or by writing to us as follows:

Freedom of Information Request,
Director of Information,
Police Ombudsman’s Office,
New Cathedral Buildings,
11 Church Street,
Belfast
BT1 1PG.

In that letter we ask you to be as clear as possible about the information you want. This will help us get that information. Remember also to enclose details of where we can send the information.
( It may be also be helpful to include a telephone number or an e-mail address where we can contact you in case we are unclear about what you want. )

We must

	Tell you whether or not we hold that information
	Grant you a general right of access to all types of recorded information we hold, with certain exemptions.
	Write to you within 20 working days, supplying the information you want or explaining why we cannot supply it.

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Step 3: Are you happy with how we have dealt with your request?

Having viewed the information we sent to you, do you now wish to make another request for information? If this is the case please contact us.

There may be other reasons why you are not satisfied with our response to your request for information. Have we responded to you on time? Have we sent you exactly what you asked for? Have we refused your request and you do not accept our reasoning?

If you have a complaint about how we handled your request we advise you to:

Write to us as soon as you can and explain in as much detail as you can why you are not happy with our response. Address your complaint to:

Freedom of Information Complaint
Director of Information
Police Ombudsman’s Office
New Cathedral Buildings
11 Church Street
Belfast BT1 1PG
E Mail: info@policeombudsman.org

	Acknowledge your complaint
	Appoint a member of staff who will review your initial request for information and how it was handled, with particular reference to the issues you raise in your letter of complaint.
	That member of staff will forward his review to the Chief Executive of the Police Ombudsman’s Office.
	The Chief Executive will consider the matter in full and send you a letter detailing his views on your complaint.

If you are still unhappy with our response you have one year in which to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office: Northern Ireland
Room 101
Regus House
33 Clarendon Dock
Laganside
Belfast BT 13BG
E Mail: ni@ico.gsi.gov.uk

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Exemptions.

There are 23 categories of information which we may not or cannot provide for you. If the law does not allow us to release information to you we will tell you so and explain why this is so. Should you disagree with our view you can complain to us and then to the Information Commissioner.

Listed below are some of the categories of information which is or can be exempt from disclosing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. For further details you may wish to visit www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Some classes of information have absolute exemption and include:

Information which is reasonably accessible to you already (see Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )

Information which has been supplied to us by or relates to a ‘Security Body.’ (See section 23 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )

Information which is contained in court records (see Section 32 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )

Information which has been provided to us in confidence (see section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )

Other legislation, such as section 63 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 places limits on the material we can disclose.

Some classes of information have Qualified Exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. For us not to disclose such information, we have to believe that the public interest in withholding the information from you is far greater than the public interest is granting you access to it. Such categories include:

Information which we intend to publish in the future (see section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )

Information which would prejudice ‘National Security’ (See Section 24 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )

Information relating to investigations and criminal proceedings (see section 30 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Information relating to Law Enforcement (See Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 )