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Northumbria Police Authority's
Data Protection Statement
Information
about you is known as personal data and is covered by the
Data Protection Act 1998. This Act gives you a general right
of access to your own personal data and to have any mistakes
corrected.
Northumbria Police Authority processes personal data about
members of the public only in very limited circumstances.
Most of the personal data that we process relates to members
and officers of the Authority and to officers and support
staff of Northumbria Police Force.
If you want information in relation to police checks that you have no previous convictions for, new jobs or foreign travel visas, please complete Form 1 Northumbria Police Subject Access Form and send to:
The Chief Constable
Northumbria Police
Central Info Bureau
Forum Way
Cramlington
Northumberland
NE23 6SB
If your request is in relation to any other personal information please complete Form 2 and send it to:
Information Rights Officer
Civic Centre
Regent Street
Gateshead
NE8 1HH
If you take part in any of our public consultations we may
process your personal data to help us understand your concerns,
to plan and develop a police service that meets the needs
of the local community. We will not include any personal
data in our reports and plans.
If
you make a complaint or sign a petition that is presented
to the Authority we may need to share your personal data
with members and officers of Northumbria Police Authority,
your local Council, and Northumbria Police Force to investigate
and respond.
If we process your personal data we will keep it safe and
secure and will not share it with any other organisations
without your knowledge, unless we are required by law to
do so.
Please
note - Police operations are the responsibility of the
Chief Constable and information about individuals including
victims of crime, witnesses, offenders and suspects is more
likely to be held by Northumbria Police Force than the Authority.
The Data Protection
Principles
What is personal data?
What does processing personal data mean?
Who processes my personal data?
Can I see my personal data?
Further Information
The
Data Protection Principles
The Act is based on eight legally enforceable
principles that organisations and individuals must apply
when they process your personal data. The Act states that
all personal data must:
- be
processed fairly and lawfully
- only
be obtained and processed for specified and lawful purposes
- be
adequate, relevant for the purpose and not excessive
- be
accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
- not
be kept longer than necessary
- be
processed in accordance with the data subject's rights
- be
kept safe and secure
- not
be transferred to other countries without adequate protection
for the rights and freedoms of the data subject
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of page
What
is personal data?
Personal data is any information which, on its own or referenced
against other information held by the organisation, can
be used to identify a living individual. This includes information
like your name and address or your date of birth and might
include expressions of opinion about you.
The Act recognises that some types of personal data are
more sensitive than others. There are extra rules for processing
data about your ethnic origin, religious beliefs, trade
union membership, party political opinions, sexuality, health,
involvement in court proceedings, actual or suspected criminal
activity.
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What
does processing personal data mean?
Processing personal data includes collecting, storing, accessing,
changing and destroying any information about you. The amount
of personal data we have about you and how we process it
depends on why and how often you contact us
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Who
processes my personal data?
Authority members and officers can access and process your
personal data for their official Authority duties, but only
the data needed for a specific purpose. They will not disclose
your personal data to anyone else without your knowledge,
unless they are required by law to do so.
You can write and ask us to stop processing your personal
data at any time. You must explain what processing you want
us to stop and why. We must reply within 21 days to let
you know what we have done about your request.
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Can
I see my personal data?
The Data Protection Act gives you a general right of access
to personal data that relates to you. Access requests must
be made in writing; with enough information to locate the
data requested and proof that you are the data subject.
You can request access to your personal data using our subject
access form, which is available here. This form is designed to help you give us the
information we need to find your personal data but you do
not have to use it. You can send a letter, fax or e-mail
to the Authority's
Information Rights Officer if you prefer.
You may have to pay a fee of up to £10 but we will
confirm that when we receive your data subject access request.
Once we have enough information to locate your personal
data we must respond within 40 days confirming:
- a
description of the personal data
- why
the data is held
- who
else the data might have been given to
- a
copy of the data
- an
explanation of any technical terms or abbreviations
- any
information about the original source of the data
We can withhold some data if it refers to other people
who have not consented to disclosure, if disclosure
might cause serious harm to you or anyone else or might
prejudice crime prevention or court proceedings. Even
if we cannot provide you with copies of the data, we
will confirm what type of data we hold and why we hold
it.
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Further
Information
If you have any questions about your rights under the Data
Protection Act 1998 or want to make a subject access request
please contact the Information Rights Officer, Northumbria
Police Authority, Civic Centre, Gateshead, NE8 1HH or e-mail
to informationrights@gateshead.gov.uk
or telephone (0191) 433 2170.
You
can also get information leaflets and advice from:
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