1. Security protective marking

1.1. Not protectively marked.

2. Summary of changes

2.1. The following changes have been made to this policy on 20 January 2010.

• Paragraph 7.3. changes in respect of accredited standards for Business Crime Partnerships;
• Addition of conditions relating to MoPI.

2.2. This policy is due for review in  September 2012.

3. Application

3.1. This policy applies to:

• Patrol officers;
• Neighbourhood policing teams;
• Custody officers and other staff.

4. Purpose

4.1. The purpose of this policy is to provide Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP) with information to make balanced decisions in relation to exclusion notices.

4.1.  The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 places a responsibility on Kent police to work in Partnership with other agencies in the furtherance of crime reduction. This policy has two main parts - the supply of personal data to BCRP working in partnership with Kent police. It must be recognised that in law the general presumption is against disclosure of such data, but there are exceptions detailed below. The second part relates to the system of service of exclusion notices on behalf of crime reduction partnerships.

5. Objectives 

5.1.  The objectives are:

(a) To provide Partnerships with information, this will enable them to make balanced decisions in relation to exclusion notices.
(b) To reduce the opportunity for crime and anti social behaviour.
(c) To protect staff from acts of physical violence and verbal abuse which often leads to stress and related disorder.
(d) To reduce the incidents of crime and fear of crime, which benefits staff and customers

6. Personal data 

6.1.  For the purpose of this policy personal data is as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998, data

“which relate to a living individual who can be identified from those data or from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller”

7. What is a BCRP? 

7.1.  BCRP’s are constituted partnerships made up of members from all sectors of the business community working in partnership to reduce crime against businesses.

7.2.  Such partnerships benefit both large and small businesses alike and have a real impact on the environment, working conditions crime and disorder job creation and investment.

7.3.  There are accredited standards recognised nationally for BCRP's which, demonstrate that partnerships operate to the highest standards and are working closely with other agencies. Kent Police will only disclose personal information to or serve exclusion notices on behalf of accredited partnerships or others who are demonstrably working towards such a standard.

8. What is an exclusion notice 

8.1.  There is a presumed invitation by businesses to allow members of the public to enter their premises and either view or buy or for other purposes of the member’s business.

8.2.  The service of an exclusion notice withdraws that invitation to the person served with the exclusion notice.

8.3.  This scheme only applies to those businesses that are members of an accredited BCRP (see paragraphs 7.1 to 7.3) and have confirmed their commitment to the scheme and have signed the relevant partnership protocols and agreements.

8.4.  A schedule of the businesses to which an individual is excluded will be attached to the exclusion notice.

8.5.  All businesses (whether members of a BCRP or not) are entitled to exclude members of the public from their premises and some already operate exclusion notice schemes but only in relation to their own businesses.

8.6.  This scheme allows the partnership to issue exclusion notices on behalf of its individual members, to exclude members of the public from their shop, licensed premises, store or business and from such other premises of the Partnership as is considered appropriate, having taken into account Human Rights issues.

9. Grounds for disclosure 

9.1.  Personal data may be disclosed, for the purpose of this policy:

9.2.  To achieve the objective and comply with Kent Police’s Data Protection Registration the Data Protection Act 1998 and Human Rights considerations by applying the JAPAN (Justifiable, Appropriate, Proportionate, Auditable, Necessary) principles.

10. Disclosure of information to BCRP’S and records to be kept 

10.1.  Disclosure of personal data may be made to BCRP’s in limited circumstance. The circumstances are:

• Where any person is charged with or cautioned or accepts the offer of a Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) (subject to Paragraph 9.2 below) for any offence committed.

(a) in any premises or open space (including car parks, gardens and shopping centres) belonging to businesses which are members of a BCRP or

(b) Immediately beyond such premises where there are reasonable grounds to believe the offence is connected with the person’s presence at such premises

10.2.  In these circumstances the officer in the case shall inform the individual, before the charge is preferred or a caution or PND offered, that details of the offence and the individuals identity will be disclosed to the co-coordinator of the BCRP. The individual will be informed this may result in the BCRP excluding him/her from all its members’ premises. The person will also be informed that he or she has the right to make representations. A written record of the notice including any representations will be made. In the case of a PND being offered elsewhere than in a police station the officer will record the notice and any representations in their pocket notebook.

10.3.  Consideration of any representations will be the task of an officer of at least the rank of Sergeant, who will inform the person of their decision and make a record of their considerations of the public interest balance required to support compliance with Human Rights Act 1998 using the JAPAN principles. This should be recorded in the custody record, or other suitable record made. Should the person make further representations he or she should be told to make his/her objection in writing within 72 hours. The District Commander will make the final decision and the person informed of the result in writing.

10.4.  If the person makes no representation, the BCRP co-ordinator will be informed of the details in writing.

10.5.  No information about previous convictions or intelligence shall be provided unless a full risk assessment, in accordance with policy K10 Community crime reduction partnerships, has been carried out. Conditions on the use of such information will be applied unless to do so would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime the subject of the information shall be informed of any disclosure.

11. Serving exclusion notices 

11.1.  Consideration will be given by the police to assisting the Partnership to serve an exclusion notice;

• by serving the notice on the person to be excluded when that person is in custody;
• by serving the notice when the excluded person is not in custody; and
• by assisting the Partnership to serve an exclusion notice.

11.2.  When the excluded person is in custody for a related offence and an exclusion notice has been issued, the Custody Officer may serve the notice on the person to be excluded. The exclusion notice and the Custody Record should be endorsed accordingly.

11.3.  When the person to whom an exclusion notice has been issued is not in custody, the police will only be involved in such service if satisfied that the potential for a breach of the peace is high. Such involvement can take one of two courses:

(a) Service of the notice; or

(b) Police presence when a representative of the Partnership serves the notice.

11.4.  Before police participation in the service of an exclusion notice is agreed, the Partnership Co-ordinator must put in writing a request, to the District Commander for the area concerned. The letter must state that the Partnership is satisfied that an exclusion notice is justified (with reasons) and intends to issue such a notice and that it believes (giving reasons) that there is a realistic prospect that a breach of the peace will occur when the notice is served. The Police will check each request and the District Commander or his assigned representative shall decide whether the Police should serve the notice or whether police officers should be present when a member of the Partnership serves the notice. The scheme coordinator shall be informed in writing of the District Commander’s decision.

11.5.  All requests must be signed by the scheme co-ordinator of the respective Partnership. ( Click here for a typical layout for the content of the letter to the Area Commander).

11.6.  On no occasion will the police draw up exclusion notices on behalf of the Partnership nor will it instruct that such notices be drawn up or served. That responsibility rests with the Partnership whose co-ordinator will communicate the decision, where necessary, to the police.

11.7.  Where an exclusion notice has been served by the Partnership without the assistance of the police, the police should be informed of the name and address of the individual concerned so that Kent police can update Genesis.

11.8.  Monitoring and reporting systems will be adopted by the BCRP that are designed to show whether Exclusion Notices are potentially being serviced disproportionally against particular groups e.g. based on ethnicity. If monitoring shows that exclusion notices are being serviced disproportionally against particular groups the service will conduct further analysis to identify the causes.

12. Requests for information by BCRPS 

12.1.  BCRP co-ordinators will maintain their own records and may from time to time seek information relating to suspects. No disclosure shall be made unless a full risk assessment in accordance with policy K10 Community Crime Reduction Partnerships has been carried out. Conditions on the use of such information will be applied. The subject of the information shall be informed unless to do so would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

12.2.  Where the information sought relates to an incident to which paragraphs 10.1 - 10.2 apply, but no disclosure was made at the time of charge or caution or issue of a PND, the facts of the case should be reviewed in the light of this policy and the appropriate information may be disclosed. The representation process outlined in paragraphs 10.2- 10.4 will still apply and the person must be informed either in person or in writing of their opportunity to object in advance of any disclosure. If no objection is received within 72 hours of the notification, disclosure may follow.

13. Privacy of information 

13.1.  All disclosures to BCRP’s must include the following statement:

13.2.  “This document contains information from Kent police which is confidential and may be legally privileged. Any opinions expressed may be those of the individual and not necessarily of Kent police. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual(s) or entity named above in accordance with Kent police policy K26 Disclosure of information to Business Crime Reduction Partnership. Any further disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information is prohibited.”

14. National Business Information System 

14.1.  The National Business Information System (NBIS) is designed to link town, city and shopping centre BCRS to help reduce crime. Most of Kent BCRP’s use this system. NBIS is accessed via a secure virtual private network that provides partnerships with full facilities for the management, analysis and sharing of their own crime data.

14.2.  This database is an enhancement to our existing applications. Kent police have access to system, which is available to authorised users only. It allows access on a read only basis. However should an authorised user consider it necessary to add to the database this can be done with the authority of a system administrator. NBIS can also be used to circulate warnings and other information to the business community in accordance with policy K10 Community Crime Reduction Partnership policy.

15. Public authorities and partnerships equalities legislation 

15.1.  Kent police is under statutory duty to promote fairness and equality. It takes into consideration legislation including the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Equality Act 2006, amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.

15.2.  As a listed authority in equalities legislation, the legal liability for meeting the duty within this partnership rests with Kent police. This means that Kent police is required to make sure that the partnership takes account of the duty in its work, and that all members of the partnership are aware of Kent police’s legal responsibilities. These legal responsibilities are to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• promote equal opportunities; and
• promote good relations between people of different racial groups.

15.3.  There is a nationally recognised standard for BCRP’s – the Safer Business Award, it demonstrates that partnerships operate to the highest standards and enhance close partnerships accredited to the Safer Business Award standard or are demonstrably working towards it. 

15. Equality impact assessment

15.1. This policy has been assessed with regard to its relevance to race and diversity equality. As a result of this assessment the policy has been graded as having a medium potential impact.

 

15.2. Attached is the latest equality impact assessment that forms part of the policy review process.