Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
A If none of your officers are authorised to use spit hoods please:
(i) Confirm the rationale for this position and provide any documents recording the same;
(ii) Provide any documents which were considered in the course of reaching this decision e.g. risk assessments, expert advice, etc;
(iii) Provide minutes of meetings at which the decision not to authorise the use of spit hoods was discussed;
(iv) Provide documents detailing training provided to your officers on the techniques they should employ to mitigate the risk of spitting;
(v) Internal and external correspondence regarding the decision not to use of spit hoods.
In Response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held in part by Northumbria Police.
To answer your request, our response to a previous Freedom of Information Request, FOI 94/16 is applicable to this request. Northumbria Police’s position is that at the time of your request we currently do not use ‘spit guards’. No documentation is in existence regarding the decision not to use spit guards, however, the Force is currently reviewing the position with regards to the potential use of spit guards.
