The two documents which I have been sent appear to be out of date. It is not clear if the agreements the released documents describe have been renewed and are currently in effect.

I find it very surprising that Cambridgeshire Constabulary do not hold a copy of an agreement with Huntingdonshire District Council as a draft of that agreement is available (http://applications.huntsdc.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=11317).

The agreement with Cambridge City Council states:

“The Parties shall enter into negotiations with the aim of agreeing further terms with respect to the issuing of fixed penalty notices in relation to offences with respect to graffiti and littering; the further terms would authorise the issue of these notices by the police community support officers on behalf of the Council”

As the police state they do not hold any other information in relation to my request this implies these negotiations were not successful and no agreement on the issuing of fixed penalty notices was reached.

Dear Richard,

We apologise for the August and September FOI’s not being available. There
are a few technical issues but we will have them published very soon..

Kind regards,
Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

The links to documents from the August and September FOI disclosure logs do not work. Logs from earlier months do work.

Mr Wilkins and Olive Main,

I am writing you as relevant members of the Police Authority. I am aware that one of the roles the police authority fulfills is reviewing Cambridgeshire Police’s compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. A lot of time, effort and money apparently goes into attempting compliance and auditing of the Police’s performance in meeting its duties under the act. I would like to draw your attention to the fact the police are currently informing those requesting information that it will take around two months for their request to be processed whereas the act requires a response to be made as rapidly as possible and in any case within twenty working days:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/cambridgeshire_constabulary

In the case of my request for the powers of PCSOs in Cambridge to be released, I made the formal FOI request via the Whatdotheyknow.com website which puts the correspondence and released material in the public domain only after spending many months informally seeking the release of the information. For example on the 12th of September 2007 I got a commitment from the Chief Constable live on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to publish the powers on the police website as other forces do however this was not followed up with action. I wrote to both of you on the 6th of October 2007 suggesting you ask the Chief Constable to follow up on her commitment.

I find it hard to get information out of the police, they appear to be institutionally secretive. As you can see from the Whatdotheyknow.com link it is not only my requests which are subject to illegal delays. I also note that the leader of Cambridge City Council has been seeking the publication of the membership, dates, and minutes of the police run “Neighborhood Action Group” meetings in Cambridge for a number of months now, again without success. I doubt he has resorted to citing the FOI act in his requests, but he shouldn’t have to, all requests for information should be dealt with under the terms of the act, it should have resulted in a culture change in public authorities, and in the case of Cambridgeshire Police it hasn’t.

I hope this email helps bring some more depth and “colour” next time you are reviewing a bland table of numbers detailing the police force’s FOI compliance performance.

I regret to inform you that Cambridgeshire Constabulary have not been able
to complete its response to your request by the date originally stated.

I now advise you that the amended date for a response is 24/09/08. I can
assure you that every effort will be made to ensure an appropriate response
will be made within this new timescale.

The FOI act requires that information is disclosed as quickly as possible, and in any case within twenty working days. Cambridgeshire Police are suggesting they are going to fail to comply with those requirements in what I consider to be a very straightforward request for information.
Not only do Cambridgeshire Police have an “Information access office” but they also have systems in place for dealing with, and auditing their performance in response to FOI requests. I am appalled that despite this expensive infrastructure, simple requests are not being dealt with in a timely manner.