Detail of alleged offences for arrests and warnings - COVID-19

Summary

The request sought clarification on the dates of 'Direction Notices' and specific statutory offences for Persons 4-9 arrested or warned during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Isle of Man Constabulary confirmed that the dates previously provided were incorrect, noting that the specific regulation and amendment in force were not explicitly recorded in their system.

Key Facts

• The Constabulary admitted the dates of 'Direction Notices' in the previous response coincided incorrectly with arrest or warning dates.
• Specific statutory provisions establishing the offences for Persons 4-9 are not explicitly recorded in the Constabulary system.
• The response provided a corrected table of dates for Persons 1-9, distinguishing between arrival, warning, and arrest dates.
• Person 4 was the only individual in the list recorded as having both a warning and an arrest on different dates.
• The authority stated that while offences are alleged, the specific regulation details are not held in the recorded format requested.

Data Disclosed

• 23/07/2020
• 10/07/2020
• 28/07/2020
• 02/08/2020
• 21/07/2020
• 06/08/2020
• 31/07/2020
• 05/08/2020
• 27/07/2020
• 07/08/2020
• 24/07/2020
• 11/08/2020
• Persons 4 - 9
• FOI Request 1429685
• FOI Request 1435085

Original Request

With regard to the response to FOI Request 1429685: The date of issue of 'Direction Notices' (column c) in the response to the above request coincides with the date of arrest and/or issue of warning. Please can you confirm whether the date of issue of 'Direction Notices' stated in the response to the above FOI request is correct as a 'Direction Notice' is supposed to be issued upon or prior to arrival in the Island. The Constabulary has stated in response to the above FOI Request that 'The Regulation and amendment in in force when direction notice is issued is not explicitly recorded'. It is assumed that the Constabulary holds information as to what constitutes an offence with regard to contravention of 'Direction Notices' and informs an individual of the offence they are alleged to have committed when issuing a warning or arresting an individual and the Constabulary subsequently records that information. With regard to Persons 4 - 9 (inclusive) as listed in the response to the above FOI Request, state: a. the alleged offence for which each Person was warned and/or arrested; and b. the specific statutory provision in force at the time of warning/arrest that established the offence, or c. If b. is not recorded, state what is recorded on the "Constabulary system" for each offence alleged to have been committed by the above Persons. No information to identify individuals is required.

Data Tables (3)

Full Response Text

Isle of Man Constabulary Freedom of Information Police Headquarters Dukes Avenue Douglas Isle of Man IM2 4RG

Our ref: 1435085 26 August 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 19 August 2020 and which states:

"With regard to the response to FOI Request 1429685: The date of issue of 'Direction Notices' (column c) in the response to the above request coincides with the date of arrest and/or issue of warning. Please can you confirm whether the date of issue of 'Direction Notices' stated in the response to the above FOI request is correct as a 'Direction Notice' is supposed to be issued upon or prior to arrival in the Island. The Constabulary has stated in response to the above FOI Request that 'The Regulation and amendment in in force when direction notice is issued is not explicitly recorded'. It is assumed that the Constabulary holds information as to what constitutes an offence with regard to contravention of 'Direction Notices' and informs an individual of the offence they are alleged to have committed when issuing a warning or arresting an individual and the Constabulary subsequently records that information. With regard to Persons 4 - 9 (inclusive) as listed in the response to the above FOI Request, state: a. the alleged offence for which each Person was warned and/or arrested; and b. the specific statutory provision in force at the time of warning/arrest that established the offence, or c. If b. is not recorded, state what is recorded on the "Constabulary system" for each offence alleged to have been committed by the above Persons. No information to identify individuals is required."

Our response to your request is as follows: I have detailed below the information:

The request is:
With regard to the response to FOI Request 1429685: The date of issue of 'Direction Notices' (column c) in the response to the above request coincides with the date of arrest and/or issue of warning. • Please can you confirm whether the date of issue of 'Direction Notices' stated in the response to the above FOI request is correct as a 'Direction Notice' is supposed to be issued upon or prior to arrival in the Island. The Constabulary has stated in response to the above FOI Request that 'The Regulation and amendment in in force when direction notice is issued is not explicitly recorded'. It is assumed that the Constabulary holds information as to what constitutes an offence with regard to contravention of 'Direction Notices' and informs an individual of the offence they are alleged to have committed when issuing a warning or arresting an individual and the Constabulary subsequently records that information. With regard to Persons 4 - 9 (inclusive) as listed in the response to the above FOI Request, state: a. the alleged offence for which each Person was warned and/or arrested; and b. the specific statutory provision in force at the time of warning/arrest that established the offence, or c. If b. is not recorded, state what is recorded on the "Constabulary system" for each offence alleged to have been committed by the above Persons. No information to identify individuals is required.

Results The results table referred to in this request from FOI 1429685 is copied below: Person a: regulation b: amendment in force c: date issued d: date of arrival on Island e: date warned e: date arrested Person 1 n/r n/r 23/07/2020 10/07/2020 23/07/202 0 n/a Person 2 n/r n/r 23/07/2020 10/07/2020 23/07/202 0 n/a Person 3 n/r n/r 23/07/2020 10/07/2020 23/07/202 0 n/a Person 4 n/r n/r 28/07/2020 & 02/08/2020 21/07/2020 28/07/202 0 02/08/202 0 Person 5 n/r n/r 23/07/2020 18/07/2020 23/07/202 0 n/a Person 6 n/r n/r 06/08/2020 31/07/2020 06/08/202 0 n/a Person 7 n/r n/r 05/08/2020 27/07/2020 n/a 05/08/202 0

Person 8 n/r n/r 07/08/2020 24/07/2020 n/a 07/08/202 0 Person 9 n/r n/r 11/08/2020 31/07/2020 n/a 11/08/202 0 The original request, as noted, did incorrectly provide the date of warning / arrest as the date of issue of the Direction Notice. This was due to misinterpretation of the information required. The Direction Notice is not issued by the Constabulary. The powers under which the Constabulary acts are captured within the EMERGENCY POWERS (POTENTIALLY INFECTIOUS PERSONS) REGULATIONS 2020 and associated legislation as outlined below in the table: Person a: offence (Reason for Arrest) b: statutory provision in force (Offence description in case) c: what is recorded on Constabulary system for each offence (extracted from Report)* Person 4 COVID19 - Misc Offence 1: COVID - Failed to comply with Regulation 5 (Entry Restrictions) from 02/08/2020 2: Regulation 7 of the Emergency Powers (Coronavirus) (Entry Restrictions) (No2) Regulations 2020 contrary to Regulation 13 (A) (ii) of said Regulations. 3: Emergency Powers Act offence (COVID) BREACH OF COVID-19 (FAILURE TO SELF ISOLATE) Person 5 n/a n/a COVID-19 SELF- ISOLATION WARNING Has been given a verbal Covid-19 Reg warning by Police. Person 6 n/a n/a BREACH OF COVID ISOLATION RULE. Person 7 COVID19 - Misc Offence n/a COVID 19 – Misc offence ‘Offence’: Migration Code. Person 8 COVID19 - Misc Offence 1: COVID - Abscond/attempt abscond (Health Protection) from 04/08/2020. 2: Regulation 6 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020, contrary to Regulation 16 (1) (b) of the said Regulations. 3: Emergency Powers Act offence (COVID) n/a Person 9 COVID19 - Misc Offence 1: COVID - Failure to comply with a direction (PIP) (Amended) n/a

from 07/08/2020 and 08/08/2020. 2: Emergency Powers (Potentially Infectious Persons) Regulations 2020 (as amended) contrary to Paragraph 18(a) of the Schedule to the said Regulations. 3: Emergency Powers Act offence (COVID) s25(b)(i)&(ii) While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information). The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • The Isle of Man Constabulary is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and • The Isle of Man Constabulary is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that the Isle of Man Constabulary can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and one of the conditions in Article 9 of the GDPR and Schedule 2 of the Implementing regulations is met and in this case, none of those conditions have been met. Names have been redacted. Information which, if released, may lead to the identification of individuals has not been included. The requestor expressly indicates that they do not want personal data.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 31(1) of the Act as it is information held by the Isle of Man Constabulary for the purposes of

An investigation, conducted by Isle of Man Constabulary, that in the circumstances may lead to criminal proceedings being instituted.

Any criminal proceedings that the public authority has power to conduct.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 31(2)(a) of the Act as the information was obtained or recorded by the Isle of Man Constabulary for the purposes of its functions relating to investigations that are conducted by Isle of Man Constabulary, by virtue of powers conferred under The Police Act 1993 for the purpose of ascertaining whether a person has failed to comply with the law.

As section 31 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large.

Factors in favour of disclosure Satisfaction that the investigation has been conducted properly. The investigations are high profile nationally and are a part of the media interest.

Factors in favour of withholding Any future investigation where the data is released would be prejudiced as this data is likely to be published, and also media interest. The right to a fair trial would be undermined. The ability to enforce future law enforcement capabilities would be affected. May hinder the future prevention and detection of crime. Investigations are not closed where warnings have been applied. In releasing the context of warnings may lead to the identification of individuals who have been warned and thus a risk to them.

In taking these factors into account the Isle of Man Constabulary determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt under section 32(1) of the act as disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice:

(a) the prevention or detection of crime; (b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders; (c) the administration of justice; (d) the assessment or collection of a tax or duty or of an imposition of a similar nature; (e) the operation of immigration controls; or (f) the maintenance of security and good order in institutions (within the meaning of the Custody Act 1995) where persons are lawfully detained. Data which has been secured for the investigation and potential investigation of offences - i.e. where there has been a warning and this warning may be introduced in future proceedings. The prevention and detection of crime. The future apprehension of offenders The administration of justice. The Constabulary has a specified purpose: Determining whether a person has broken the law. As section 32 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large. Factors in favour of disclosure A better awareness may reduce the instances of such offences, this is already subject of media attention. The public may be able to protect themselves. Some information is already in the public domain.

Factors in favour of withholding Individuals may be identified and placed at risk May hinder the future prevention and detection of crime. The weight of these two aspects together outweighs the reasons to disclose.

In taking these factors into account the the Isle of Man Constabulary determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

Please quote the reference number 1435085 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely