Privacy Notice

Personal information broadly means information that identifies (or which could, with other information that we hold or are likely to hold, identify) a living individual.

This includes information provided to us by you (or on your behalf). It could also include information about you provided to us by other law enforcement agencies, government or local government agencies, companies, professionals, or private persons.

Personal information could be held on a computer or could be in a paper record or image. It can also include other types of electronically held information, such as CCTV recordings and posts on social media.

We collect, store, and use personal information from the following types of people:

• Staff including police officers, employees, volunteers, agents, and temporary or casual workers
• Former officers, members of staff, pensioners, and beneficiaries
• Potential and aspiring officers and staff
• Offenders and suspected offenders
• Witnesses
• Victims
• Complainants, correspondents, and enquirers
• Relatives, guardians, or associates of the above
• Suppliers
• Contractors
• Advisers, consultants and other professional experts, and
• Other individuals necessarily identified during police enquiries and activity

We may hold and process any or all the following personal information about you:

• Personal details such as your name, address, and other biographical information
• Details of your family, lifestyle, and social circumstances
• Information about your education and training
• Your employment details
• Other financial information about you
• Details of goods or services that you provide
• Information about offences you have committed and/or offences you are alleged to have committed
• The details of criminal proceedings which have been brought against you (including the outcome of those proceedings and sentences imposed upon you)
• Information about your physical appearance and biometric data (including records of your DNA and fingerprints)
• Images of you, recordings of your voice or video footage of you
• Licenses or permits that you hold
• Information gathered about you by cookies or log files (including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, the type of web browser you use to access our website, the name of your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the date and time that you accessed our website, the referring and exit pages, and the number of clicks you made on our website)
• References about you
• Criminal Intelligence about you
• References to manual records or files relating to you
• Information relating to health and safety investigations concerning you, or
• Details of complaints, incidents or accidents involving you (this could include situations in which you have made a complaint and situations in which another person has made a complaint about you).

We obtain, hold, use and disclose personal information for two broad purposes:

Law enforcement purposes

These are the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties.

This includes safeguarding against (and preventing) threats to public safety. It also involves our obligations to protect children and the vulnerable, and to uphold the King’s Peace.

The provision of services to support law enforcement

This includes:

• Police Officer and Police Staff administration, occupational health and welfare
• Police Officer and Police Staff recruitment
• Police Officer and Police Staff Performance management
• Initiating and managing contracts with third parties
• Management of public relations, journalism, advertising and media
• Management of finance
• Internal review, accounting and auditing
• Training
• Property management
• Insurance management
• Vehicle and transport management
• Payroll and benefits management
• Management of complaints
• Vetting
• Management of internal information technology systems
• Management of external information technology systems (including our website)
• Legal services
• Information provision
• Licensing and registration
• Pensioner administration
• Research including surveys
• Sports and recreation
• Procurement
• Planning
• System testing
• Security
• Health and safety management

We will collect and process the information about you that you provide by filling in forms, by corresponding with us (by telephone, email or otherwise), by answering questions we ask of you, and/or by otherwise participating in a police investigation.

We will also collect and process your personal information by using CCTV in police premises (including police custody suites) and by using body worn and drone video cameras.

We will also collect your personal information by using cookies and log files on our website. We use Google Analytics, Formidable (web page feedback) and Wufoo (online form feedback).

We may also collect and process information about you from third parties including other governmental agencies, companies, professionals, or private citizens. We may receive personal information about you from:

• Other law enforcement agencies
• HM Revenue and Customs
• International law enforcement agencies and bodies
• Licensing authorities
• Legal representatives (whether yours or another person’s)
• Prosecuting authorities
• Courts
• Prisons
• Security companies
• Partner agencies involved in crime and disorder strategies
• Private sector organisations working with the police in anti-crime strategies
• Voluntary sector organisations
• Approved organisations and people working with the police
• The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)
• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)
• Auditors
• The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset (OPCC)
• Central government, governmental agencies, and government departments
• Other emergency services
• Private individuals
• Relatives, guardians, or other persons associated with you
• Your current, past, or prospective employers
• Healthcare, social and welfare advisers, or practitioners
• Education, training establishments and examining bodies
• Business associates and other professional advisors
• Our employees and agents
• Suppliers, providers of goods or services
• Financial organisations and advisors
• Credit reference agencies
• Survey and research organisations
• Trade, employer associations and professional bodies
• Local government
• Voluntary and charitable organisations
• Ombudsmen and regulatory authorities
• The media
• Data Processors working on behalf of the Constabulary

We may monitor or record and retain telephone calls, texts, emails and other electronic communications (which we make or receive) to deter, prevent and detect inappropriate or criminal activity, to ensure security, and to assist the purposes as described in this notice.

Data Protection laws require us to meet certain conditions before we can use your personal information in the way(s) described in this notice.

We will always ensure that your personal information is handled fairly, lawfully and with appropriate justification.

We will only use the minimum amount of your personal information necessary to fulfil a particular purpose or purposes.

The lawful conditions that we will rely on for processing your personal data are as follows:

• That you have given us consent to process your information
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way for law enforcement purposes
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way for the administration of justice
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another person
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way for the establishment, exercise, or defence of a legal claim
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way for the performance of a task that we are carrying out in the public interest (or in the exercise of our official authority)
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way to prevent fraud (by passing your personal information to an anti-fraud organisation)
• That it is necessary for us to process your personal information in that way to comply with our legal or contractual obligations
• We will strive to ensure that any personal information used by us or on our behalf is of the highest quality and in particular that it is:
  • adequate, relevant and not excessive
  • accurate and where necessary kept up to date
  • kept for as long as we need it and then disposed of securely
  • kept secure.

Sharing of your personal information will be made on a case-by-case basis, using only the personal information appropriate to a specific purpose and circumstances, and with necessary controls in place.

Our legitimate interests
When holding, disclosing, or otherwise handling your personal information, we have several legitimate interests. These include:

• Ensuring that we can handle your information for the purposes of a contractual, quasi-contractual or employment relationship existing between you and us
• Enabling us to provide services to you
• Allowing us to comply with our duties to prevent crime, to protect the public from criminal activity, to discover the identities of those responsible for crime, to assist in the prosecution of offenders, to execute criminal punishments, to uphold the King’s Peace, and safeguard children and the vulnerable
• Facilitating our compliance with legal obligations to share information (for example, when we are ordered to share information by a court)
• Permitting us to fulfil our licensing and regulatory responsibilities
• Ensuring that accurate records are kept of policing and criminal activity.

Digitising legacy evidence
Avon and Somerset Constabulary will digitise legacy Physical Criminal Evidence assets onto secure digital storage, with agreement from the Crown Prosecution Service and Governance Boards. This will allow the Constabulary to ensure vital evidence is preserved and protected with the potential to improve outcomes for victims.

Appropriate Policy documents

• Sensitive Processing for Law Enforcement Purposes Policy (PDF)
• Processing of Special Categories of Personal Data and Criminal Convictions Policy (PDF)

To able to enforce the law , and to provide services to support other law enforcement agencies, we may disclose your personal information to other agencies, companies and persons including those from whom we obtain personal information.

This may include disclosures to:

• other law enforcement agencies
• partner agencies working on crime reduction initiatives
• partners agencies in the Criminal Justice
• victim support organisations,
• organisations or individuals working on our behalf (such as IT contractors, survey organisers, expert bodies or lawyers).

We may also disclose personal information to other private individuals.

Where required, or where it is appropriate to do so, personal information may be shared with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) to facilitate and support policing and to deliver applicable statutory functions.

We will also disclose personal information to other bodies or individuals when required to do so by, or under, any act of legislation, by any rule of law, and/or by a court order.

This may include disclosures to the Child Support Agency, the National Fraud Initiative, or to the Courts.

We may also disclose personal information on a discretionary basis for the purpose of, and in connection with, any legal proceedings or for obtaining legal advice.

Sending information outside the UK
Some of the bodies or individuals to whom we may disclose personal information are situated outside of the United Kingdom and some are outside European Union.

Some of the territories in which these persons are located do not have laws that protect personal information as extensively as in the United Kingdom.

If we do transfer personal information to such territories, we will take proper steps to ensure that it is protected as required by data protection law.

Find out more about how we share personal data with partners for different legal purposes.

We keep personal information for as long as is necessary for the particular purpose or purposes for which it is held.

Your personal information is retained, reviewed, and deleted on the Police National Computer (PNC) for agreed national retention periods (which are subject to periodic change).

Currently, information is retained on the PNC until the data subject is one hundred years of age.

Records that include personal information relating to intelligence, custody, crime, firearms, conviction history, child abuse investigations, and domestic violence will be retained in line with the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) for Management of Police Information. 

All other records retention periods are set to meet business requirements. All of our retention periods are inline with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) minimum standards for the Retention and Disposal of Police Records (PDF).

If you have any queries about the way in which we collect, use, and protect the personal information you should contact us by:

• email — DPO@avonandsomerset.police.uk
• phone — call 01275 816376
• post —
  The Data Protection Officer
  Avon and Somerset Police and Fire Headquarters
  PO Box 37
  Valley Road
  Portishead
  BS20 8QJ

You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information.

We will endeavour to provide information which is concise, transparent, and easy to understand.

There may be occasions when it is necessary and proportionate to restrict the provision of information in the context of law enforcement.

The right of access, commonly known as subject access, allows you to establish what personal information we hold about you and to verify the lawfulness of the way in which process that information (some exemptions apply).

There is no fee for making a request. However, we can charge a reasonable fee when a request is unfounded, excessive or repetitive. We will advise you first if we believe that this is the case.

We must respond to requests within one calendar month.

However, where a request is of a complex nature and/or involves a high volume of data, we can extend this by a further two months.

You will be advised if this is the case.

Find out how to access your personal information.

It is important that the personal information that we hold is accurate and kept up to date.

Contact our Data Protection Officer if you believe that your information is not accurate or up to date.

We may not always be able to change or agree to remove the information, but we will correct factual inaccuracies and may include comments on the record to show that you disagree with what is recorded.

You have the right to have the information held by us erased if:

• your personal information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was originally collected or processed
• we have relied on your consent to process the information and you have withdrawn that consent
• there is no legal reason for us to use your information
• deleting the information is a legal requirement

This is not an absolute right and there will be circumstances when we cannot erase your personal information.

These includes circumstances when there is a legal requirement to keep the information:

• if it is used for freedom of expression
• if it is necessary for legal claims
• if it is used for public health purposes.

You have the right to ask us to restrict the use of your personal information.

This applies where you have identified inaccurate personal information and you have told us about it.

Or where you believe we have no legal reason to use the information and want us to restrict further use (rather than erase) it.

You are entitled to obtain and reuse your personal information for your own purposes across different services.

It is likely that this right will not apply to most services that we offer. If you think it does apply, contact our Data Protection Officer.

This right does not apply to personal information processed for law enforcement purposes.

You have the right to object on grounds relating to:

• the processing of your personal information related to the performance of a task carried out by us in the public interest
• the processing for the purposes of legitimate interests that we are pursuing.

We may continue to process such information if there are compelling and legitimate grounds for processing it which override your rights and freedoms or where the processing is to do with a legal claim.

Every objection will be considered on a case by case basis.

This right does not apply to information processed for law enforcement purposes.

Although we are unlikely to carry out any automated decision-taking (including profiling) that does not involve some human element.

An individual has the right to require that we ensure that no decision that would significantly affect them is taken by us (or on our behalf) using automated decision-making software.

If you have concerns regarding automated decision making or profiling,  contact our Data Protection Officer.

If we are holding, disclosing or otherwise processing your personal information because you have given us consent to do so, and this is the only basis on which we process your data, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

Contact our Data Protection Officer to withdraw your consent.