Misplaced Pages

#41958

61-540: Wandsworth Parks Police was the name given to the body of Constables run by Wandsworth Borough Council from 1984 to 2012, which was primarily concerned in patrolling parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Wandsworth to enforce by-laws and other enactments relating to parks and open spaces. Its members were council officers, sworn in as constables referred to by Wandsworth Council as 'Parks Police Constables', or 'Constables'. The constabulary worked closely with

122-652: A Constable unless in uniform or provided with a warrant. This gives the powers of a Constable whilst enforcing open space law, including bye-laws and regulations. This includes the power under the Road Traffic Act 1988 to stop a vehicle driving onto common land. Other powers used by the Constables are set out in Sections 24 and 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) as amended by section 110 of

183-470: A dialogue with the requester to better determine the information they want, and the format they want it in - in itself, a change in the way UK authorities interact with the public. Requests can be refused if they cost more than £600, including time spent searching for files. The UK Government established the Access to Information Central Clearing House in order to ensure consistency across Central Government in

244-408: A later report said they had search powers only upon arrest for breach of bylaws, under Section 1 of PACE. However, the post-arrest power of searching was derived from Section 32 of PACE which allows those that are arrested to be searched: "Section 32(1): A constable may search an arrested person, in any case where the person to be searched has been arrested at a place other than a police station, if

305-655: A manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election , developed by David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act was criticised by freedom of information campaigners as a diluted form of what had been proposed in the White Paper. The full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The Act was the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor's Department (now renamed

366-523: A power. However, if they seized evidence in relation to a suspected offence of which they did not have jurisdiction then they still had a power of seizure, although they were required to hand the evidence over to a local police officer for consideration of arrest. Regardless of their status as Constables, they are also council officers and as such could enforce legislation which only Local Authority Officers are able to enforce for prosecution. Like other parks police services, Wandsworth Parks and Events Police

427-429: A public authority has two corresponding duties. First, a duty to inform a member of the public whether or not it holds the information requested (s1(1)(a)), and second, if it does hold that information, to communicate it to the person making that request (s1(1)(b)). As the corollary to this, the Act thus grants the equivalent rights to a confirmation or denial and communication of relevant information to an individual making

488-706: A qualified exemption, it must be subject to a public interest test. Thus, a decision on the application of a qualified exemption operates in two stages. First, a public authority must determine whether or not the information is covered by an exemption and then, even if it is covered, the authority must disclose the information unless the application of a public interest test indicated that the public interest favours non-disclosure. Qualified exemptions can be subdivided into two further categories: class-based exemptions covering information in particular classes, and harm-based exemptions covering situations where disclosure of information would be liable to cause harm. Under these exemptions

549-421: A request under the act. The basic duty is supplemented by an additional duty to aid individuals in making requests and ensuring that they frame their FOI requests appropriately. (s.16(1)) However, there are numerous exemptions. Some of these are absolute bars to disclosure; some are qualified, which means the public authority has to decide whether the public interest in disclosing the relevant information outweighs

610-601: A service whose provision is a function of a public authority. The first order under section 5 (in November 2011) extended the list of public authorities to also include the Association of Chief Police Officers , the Financial Ombudsman Service and UCAS . The act creates a general right of access, on request, to information held by public authorities. On receipt of a freedom of information claim

671-577: A total of just 32 arrests in the preceding three years, and that force had not been used in connection with any of those arrests. This coincides with a falling number of annual arrests in the predecessor units. The number of arrests made by the Wandsworth Parks Police dropped from 148 in 2000/2001 to 18 in 2010/2011. By 2017 the average number of arrests per year was only just over 10. Primary duties include: Additional areas of responsibility for constables, include: The headquarters of

SECTION 10

#1732782814042

732-449: A total value of just over £1,777. The operational uniform consists of a police polo top, black trousers, black fleece jacket, high-visibility jacket, peaked cap, Magnum boots, gloves, body armour (stab vest), and an equipment-carrying police vest with handcuffs, a video camera, and a Motorola personal radio. Officers also carry a baton. The vests bear rank markings and collar numbers, on black rank slides, as well as an identifying patch with

793-410: A weapon." Labour peer Lord Falconer has criticised the use of the act by journalists for "fishing expeditions" into salacious stories, arguing that "FoI is not for press[,] it is for the people. It needs to be properly used in order to promote good Government. Information needs to be handled responsibly, and I strongly believe that there is a duty of responsibility on behalf of the media as well." In

854-581: Is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level. Its application is limited in Scotland (which has its own freedom of information legislation) to UK Government offices located in Scotland. The Act implements

915-916: Is in existence in the UK, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 13). It was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, to cover public bodies over which the Holyrood parliament, rather than Westminster, has jurisdiction. For these institutions, it fulfils the same purpose as the 2000 Act. Around 120,000 requests were made in the first year that the Act was in force. Private citizens made 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting for 20% and 10% respectively. However, requests from journalists tended to be more complex, and, consequently, more expensive. They accounted for around 10% of initial FoI requests made to central government, but 20% of

976-672: Is led by an Inspector and a Sergeant. As of 2019 the Parks and Events Police has a team of 9 full-time attested constables (across all operational ranks), and 6 part-time reserves, of whom half are attested. The full breakdown of operational personnel is: There are additionally administrative and training staff. The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal was awarded in 2002 to all Wandsworth Park Police constables who had completed more than five years service. On 15 June 2016, eight members of Wandsworth Parks and Events Police, including their senior officer Inspector Stephen Biggs, became

1037-712: Is not a territorial police service. Their officers, in both plain clothes and uniform, enforce bye-laws and other enactments relating to open spaces, and are categorised as a miscellaneous police service. London Borough of Wandsworth Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 935889442 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:33:34 GMT Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36)

1098-569: The BBC is subject to the act only for information which is not held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, to prevent its journalistic activities from possible compromise. The scope of this provision was considered in the 2007 High Court decision of BBC v Sugar , an internal BBC document examining the BBC coverage of the Middle East for potential bias. The appellants in that case argued that

1159-504: The Metropolitan Police Service , with whom there was a history of mutual co-operation, the two forces often assisting each other with arrests, ASBOs , and other operational matters. In April 2011 Wandsworth Council announced that it was proposing to take advantage of a Metropolitan Police Authority funding scheme that would result in the set up of a Metropolitan Police Safer Parks Team of 16 police officers from

1220-830: The Ministry of Justice ). However, freedom of information policy is now the responsibility of the Cabinet Office . The Act led to the renaming of the Data Protection Commissioner (set up to administer the Data Protection Act 1998 ), who is now known as the Information Commissioner . The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the operation of the Act. A second freedom of information law

1281-468: The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (P.A.C.E.) and are therefore protected to carry such equipment under section 117 of P.A.C.E and Section 3 CLA 1967; the protection to carry such equipment is also afforded to officers in the Border Force and any person carrying out arrest powers such as Water Bailiffs and ports and Harbours Police. The powers of Parks Constables are complex in that many of

SECTION 20

#1732782814042

1342-512: The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 . When on or off duty and they see an offence being committed that is not in breach of the open spaces laws, they may only arrest using 'other person powers' (commonly known as citizen's arrest ) given under Section 24a of PACE. Wandsworth council's opinions on the stop and search powers of Parks Police constables differed. One report stated that they had no such powers, whereas

1403-472: The UK Public Records Act of 1958 . This act gave the public a general right to access all types of recorded information held by public authorities, much greater than was previously allowed. The FOIA was mainly concerned with the management and preservation of public records. The FOIA reduced the 30-year rule to a 20-year rule, meaning records would be made public earlier. This gave the public

1464-415: The BBC has no obligation to disclose information which they hold to any significant extent for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, whether or not the information is also held for other purposes. The words do not mean that the information is disclosable if it is held for purposes distinct from journalism, art or literature, whilst it is also held to any significant extent for those listed purposes. If

1525-597: The Bill might make it appear as though "Parliament has something to hide". However, this failed to pass the first reading in the House of Lords. Further to this, Lord Falconer made comments suggesting that time spent deciding whether or not information fell under an exemption clause should be included in the £600 cost limit. Consultation was carried out, with the government saying the change would cut costs and discourage requests for trivial information, although critics said that it

1586-727: The Mayor's Parlour at the grade II listed Town Hall, opened in 1937 by Queen Mary . The Parks and Events Police receive initial training and in-service re-training in: Officers of the Wandsworth Parks and Events Police (WPEP) carry out a range of duties within the Borough. Their primary work, as outlined above, is focused on community policing, and results in low numbers of arrests, and very little violence. A Freedom of Information enquiry in June 2017 revealed that WPEP officers had made

1647-492: The Metropolitan Police (2 sergeants and 14 constables) dedicated to policing the parks and open spaces of the borough. The council believed the move would save £800,000 a year as well as securing a team of officers some with higher levels of training and greater powers. Such a move meant the abolition of the Wandsworth Parks Police. There was opposition to this proposal. However, it went ahead on 1 April 2012, when

1708-521: The Ministry of Housing and Local Government Provisional Order Confirmation (Greater London Parks and Open Spaces) Act 1967. This states that: A local authority may procure officers appointed by them, for securing the observance of the provisions of all enactments relating to open spaces under their control or management and of bye-laws and regulations made thereunder, to be sworn in as a constable for that purpose but any such officer shall not act as

1769-470: The Parks and Events Police badge and name. There is also a formal uniform for official occasions consisting of a white shirt, black tie, dark blue or black tunic, and black trousers. Medal ribbons, if awarded, as well as rank markings (if any) are worn on the tunic. Parks and Events constables carry batons and handcuffs, when in uniform. Additionally they carry body worn video cameras, and personal Motorola radios. The powers of parks constables to carry batons

1830-589: The Police Service is located in Battersea Park, and includes both the Inspector's office, and the modern operations and control centre. The headquarters is also home to administrative staff and Home Office qualified instructors. According to a Freedom of Information enquiry in June 2017, each Wandsworth Parks and Events constable was at that time issued with operational uniform and equipment to

1891-452: The ability to access more recent records without sacrificing national security or personal privacy. A significant part of the FOIA was the establishment of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This office oversees the upholding of information rights in the public interest, as well as making sure the FOIA is adhered to properly. If you think a public body is intentionally not giving you

Wandsworth Parks and Events Police - Misplaced Pages Continue

1952-460: The act must be continually updated. Schedule 4 of the Act empowers the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs to add a body or officeholder to Schedule 1 as a public authority if they are created statute or prerogative; and its members are appointed by the government. It is important to note that for some public authorities listed under Schedule 1, the act has limited effect. For example,

2013-661: The act: Public Authorities, publicly owned companies and designated bodies performing public functions. In principle, the freedom of information act applies to all "public authorities" within the United Kingdom. A full list of "public authorities" for the purposes of the act is included in Schedule 1. Government departments, the Houses of Parliament , the Northern Ireland Assembly , the Welsh Assembly ,

2074-557: The act; this includes legal entities such as companies. There is no special format for a request. Applicants do not need to mention the Act when making a request. Applicants do not have to give a reason for their request. Although the Act covers a wide range of government information, the act contains a variety of provisions that provide for the exemption from disclosure of certain types of information. The act contains two forms of exemption: "absolute" exemptions that are not subject to any public interest assessment, they act as absolute bars to

2135-596: The armed forces, local government bodies, National Health Service bodies, schools, colleges and universities, police authorities and Chief Officers of Police are included within this list, which ranges from the Farm Animal Welfare Council to the Youth Council for Northern Ireland. A few government departments are expressly excluded from the scope of the act, principally intelligence services . As government departments are created or closed,

2196-586: The article Freedom of Information: A sheep in wolf's clothing? Rodney Austin offers the following criticisms of the substance of the Act: The legislation has also been criticised for "loopholes" that allow authorities to avoid disclosing information in certain situations. Companies owned by one public authority are generally subject to the Act but companies owned by two or more public authorities are not covered. Facts that have been brought to light by this Act include: The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

2257-465: The constable has reasonable grounds for believing that the arrested person may present a danger to himself or others. "Section 32(2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5) below, a constable shall also have power in any such case- (a) to search the arrested person for anything: (i) which he might use to assist him to escape from lawful custody; or (ii) which might be evidence relating to an offence" It would seem that these constables did have such

2318-465: The costs of officials' time in dealing with the requests. The Act cost £35.5 million in 2005. The act implements what was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election . Before its introduction, there had been no right of access to government by the general public, merely a limited voluntary framework for sharing information. The act was preceded by a 1998 white paper , Your Right to Know , by David Clark . The White paper

2379-528: The disclosure of information; and "qualified" exemptions where a public interest test must be made, balancing the public interest in maintaining the exemption against the public interest in disclosing the information. The original Freedom of Information White Paper proposed 15 such exemptions, but the final Bill included 24, and not all of the initial 15 were included. Exemptions designated "absolute exemptions" have no public interest test attached. The act contains eight such exemptions: If information falls within

2440-400: The document had been produced for both operational and journalistic reasons, and so should not be covered by the partial exemption provided in the act. The High Court rejected this argument; Mr Justice Irwin considered that the meaning of journalism within the act meant that any information held for such purposes was covered by the exemption: My conclusion is that the words in the Schedule mean

2501-416: The exemption applies (subject to the public interest test) if complying with the duty under s.1 would, or would be likely to: A public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious (s14(1)). A request is considered vexatious if it is 'obsessive or manifestly unreasonable', harasses the authority or causes distress to its staff, imposes a significant burden, or if

Wandsworth Parks and Events Police - Misplaced Pages Continue

2562-540: The first police officers to be awarded certificates for attaining a Level Five (the highest level) National Vocational Qualification in Event Safety and Policing. In May 2017 four constables of the Wandsworth Parks and Events Police received bravery awards from the Mayor of Wandsworth, Councillor Richard Field, for their part in apprehending an armed suspect. The officers received the Award for Exemplary Performance in

2623-420: The force was replaced by a Metropolitan Police Safer Parks Team. Following the disbanding of the original Wandsworth Parks Police in 2012, the council retained five officers (1 inspector and 4 constables) within the newly formed Wandsworth Events Police Service (WEPS). The officers were still sworn under the same legislation and enjoyed the same powers as their predecessor unit. WEPS proved highly effective, and

2684-466: The information is held for mixed purposes, including to any significant extent the purposes listed in the Schedule or one of them, then the information is not disclosable. A 4:1 majority (Lord Wilson dissenting) of the Supreme Court upheld this decision, stating that the disclosure of any information held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature was to be excluded - even if the information

2745-579: The information you've asked for, the ICO is the agency to contact. They are essentially the centralized management agency for all things public records. While there was still a waiting period for the public to access records, the FOIA also established a system of real time reporting of records to the National Archives which could be accessed by all UK government agencies. This is also when public records began to become digitised which also meant that

2806-480: The powers of a Constable to enforce the above, albeit within a limited jurisdiction. Nevertheless, they are constables for this purpose and therefore have all the protections for constables whilst carrying out these duties. There is no office of "Police Officer" in English law, but only the office of Constable, and although a constable's jurisdiction may be limited they are nevertheless constables as defined by law, with

2867-413: The prime minister responsible for passing the Act regards it as "One of the biggest mistakes of his career". Blair says that "For political leaders, it's like saying to someone who is hitting you over the head with a stick, 'Hey, try this instead', and handing them a mallet. The information is neither sought because the journalist is curious to know, nor given to bestow knowledge on 'the people'. It's used as

2928-485: The protection such an office brings. Police dogs had a vital role in the work of the Wandsworth Parks Police, assisting police officers in routine work. General purpose police dogs were German Shepherds, Bouvier des Flandres and Malinois. Drug search dogs were Border Collie and Labradors. Wandsworth Parks and Events Police also operate a dog unit, using a Ford Transit Connect police dog van. The Parks and Events Police operate at least three marked police vehicles, carrying

2989-480: The provisions of arrest were updated by Section 26(1) of P.A.C.E 1984 and much of the negative denial of powers of Parks Constables was due to poor research and a poor understanding of the definition of the status of constables at law. Parks Constables exercise powers under Section 24 of P.A.C.E and are therefore protected under the provisions of Section 117 of P.A.C.E, whilst enforcing byelaws, regulations, and enactments relating to open spaces. Parks Constables have all

3050-587: The public interest in maintaining the exemption. An applicant for information who considers that a request has been wrongly rejected may apply to the Information Commissioner, who has the power to order disclosure. However, such orders can be appealed to a specialist tribunal (the Information Tribunal ) and in some circumstances, the Government has the power to override orders of the Information Commissioner. Any person can request information under

3111-434: The request lacks any serious value. The Act affects over 100,000 public bodies including government departments, schools and councils. The Act came into force in phases, with the final "general right of access" to public information under the Act coming into force on 1 January 2005. As well as the "general right of access", the Act places a duty on public authorities to adopt and maintain pro-active "publication schemes" for

SECTION 50

#1732782814042

3172-410: The routine release of important information (such as annual reports and accounts). These publication schemes must be approved by the Information Commissioner. In general, public authorities have 20 working days to respond to an information request, though this deadline can be extended in certain cases and/or with the agreement of the requester. Under the Act, public authorities are encouraged to enter into

3233-558: The service crest as part of the livery. They are The motor vehicles used by the Wandsworth Parks and Events Police are fitted with blue flashing strobe lights, alternating headlamps, and sirens. Wandsworth Council has stated that their use is in accordance with the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989, as amended, which permit blue lights to be fitted to emergency vehicles that are used for police purposes. The Constables are sworn in under Article 18 of

3294-418: The time frame for accessing records was immediate or real-time. This is an ongoing process that started with the advent of the digital age of the 21st century and is today a common practice for all UK public records. The Freedom of Information Act creates a statutory right for access to information in relation to bodies that exercise functions of a public nature. Three different kinds of bodies are covered under

3355-498: The way requests are handled. Three aspects of the UK's Freedom of Information Act differ from the position in many other countries: At the time of the passing of the Act, advocates of freedom of information legislation were critical of the bill for its complexity, limited scope and the inclusion of a ministerial veto. Lord Mackay criticised the bill in the House of Lords as "toothless" for its inclusion of provisions allowing ministers to veto applications. By contrast, Tony Blair ,

3416-531: Was a private member's bill introduced to the British House of Commons in 2007 which failed to become law. Conservative MP David Maclean introduced the bill to ensure that MPs' correspondence was exempt from freedom of information laws. The then leader of the Liberal Democrats , Sir Menzies Campbell , said there should not "be one law for MPs and a different law for everyone else" and that

3477-476: Was at times contracted out to assist with specific local policing issues in other London boroughs. The cost savings that were anticipated by the council, and used as a justification for disbanding the parks police, took no account of the cost of maintaining the 'new' constabulary. In 2015 the new unit was expanded back up to previous strength, and rebranded as the Wandsworth Parks and Events Police . It

3538-437: Was legal. However, a report for Newham Council and a legal opinion for Barking and Dagenham Council contradicts this. This opinion stated that there was no "lawful authority" for parks constables to carry batons. They also trained with and carried rigid handcuffs. Queen's Counsel Advice to Newham Council in 2007 stated that Parks Constables have lawful authority to carry batons as they are exercising powers under section 24 of

3599-571: Was met with widespread enthusiasm, and was described at the time as being "almost too good to be true" by one advocate of freedom of information legislation. The final act was substantially more limited in scope than the initial white paper. A draft Bill was published in May 1999; the Bill was extensively debated in the House of Commons and the House of Lords , and received royal assent in November 2000. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) modernised

3660-495: Was predominantly held for other purposes. Companies that fall within the definition of a publicly owned company under s6 of the Act automatically fall within its grasp. S6 provides that a company is publicly owned if: Under Section 5 of the Act, the Secretary of State may designate further bodies as public authorities under the Act, provided that those bodies are exercising a function of a public nature or contracting to provide

3721-480: Was questioned by the Guardian newspaper in 2007, and in that year the trade union UNISON advised its members not to carry them. Batons continued to be issued, and are routinely carried by all officers. The Constables of Wandsworth Parks Police were trained to Home Office standard to carry Monadnock batons . Wandsworth Council received their own legal opinion in November 2001 stating that carrying such equipment

SECTION 60

#1732782814042
#41958