Police on the Beat in Bristol

The Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Plan 2024 to 2029 includes this number one priority :

Which will partly be achieved by:

Improved communication so people know who their local policing team are and understand what the police are doing to keep them safe.

I had already published Bristol Crime Statistics broken down by Ward on BU.

But this is not a very positive view of Bristol and I decided to provide information about the Police Beat Teams in the different Wards and provide information about the officers, their priorities and events where people could meet their local policing teams. I built some report pages that took information from the Neighborhood Policing Teams pages.

Being a law abiding citizen I had read the relevant terms and conditions :

You may not whether directly or indirectly including through the use of any program create a database in an electronic or other form by downloading and storing all or any part of the pages from this Site without our prior written consent save as expressly authorised by an agreement in writing between us.

Unless with our prior permission no part of this Site may be reproduced or transmitted to or stored in any other website, nor may any of its pages or part thereof be disseminated in any electronic or non electronic form, nor included in any public or private electronic retrieval system or service.

You may not amend, republish, distribute, reproduce, adapt or modify any of the materials on this Site or use any of the materials for public performance or otherwise make commercial use of this Site or any materials located on it without our prior written consent.

So I wrote to the Avon and Somerset Police and asked for permission to reproduce their data on my site. I made it clear it was not a commercial site and the data would be refreshed on a regular basis.

This is the reply I received:

Good afternoon Chris,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Our Corporate Communications Team is not supportive of this approach as they require a “single point of truth in relation to news, where people can go to for accurate and official information – we would not want this replicated anywhere else”.  As such, Avon & Somerset Constabulary do not give consent for this data to be used in this way and do not waive Copyright.  Whilst you can provide links to our website, the content is our own, and we do not allow it to be used in this way.

Kind regards,

Information Governance Officer

This response appears to mean that it would be impossible for anyone to get permission to reproduce this information anywhere else.

I then removed the report pages from BU and replaced it with this notice (I got their approval for the wording):

I decided to write to Clare Moody the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and suggest that making this data available as Open Data would contribute toward the aims of her Police and Crime Plan. They had a contact option for "Submitting an idea or innovation to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC)", which sounded ideal.

The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is to be the voice of local people in policing and to hold the Chief Constable to account. The aim of all PCCs is to ensure the delivery of an effective and efficient police service within their force area.

I received this response to my suggested "Innovation":

Dear Chris McEvoy

 I am writing in response to your recent enquiry, submitted via online form, relating to your request to reproduce information published on the Avon & Somerset Police website relating to the Neighbourhood Policing Team in Bristol.

 Understandably, many people believe that as Police & Crime Commissioner, I ‘run the police’ and can direct them as I wish. This is not the case. I am responsible for appointing the Chief Constable, allocating the budget, producing a medium-term strategy (called the Police and Crime Plan), commissioning services and holding the force to account for performance. Operational decisions remain the responsibility of the police, are made under the independent direction and control of the Chief Constable, and I have no power to intervene. I am not able to over-ride the decision made by the Constabulary’s information governance office to deny you the permissions you were seeking.

 Anyone who feels that the quality of policing service or conduct of a police officer, or staff member, is below the standards expected can make a complaint, if they have not already done so, to the Professional Standards Department (PSD) of Avon and Somerset Police. As you are dissatisfied with the response that you have received, you could consider this process. The easiest way to do this is to make a complaint online, by completing the form on the Avon and Somerset Police website at: https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/contact-us/complaints/.

 I appreciate that my response my be disappointing to you but I must be honest about the limitations of my role, which does not allow me to intervene in operational policing decisions.

Warm regards

Clare Moody

Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset

Given this response, I find it difficult to see how Clare can actually deliver "Improved communication so people know who their local policing team are and understand what the police are doing to keep them safe." Especially when a local resident has offered to make this information available on a site which provides local information for local people.

I will not be submitting a complaint to Avon and Somerset Police as I don't think there would be any chance of it succeeding.

I find it baffling that the Police are happy to make data about crimes available to the public as Open Data, but not provide information about their local "Beat Teams" in the same manner.

If you would like to get more information about your local police, then I am afraid I cannot provide that information on my site, but you can look at this information on the "official site".