Staffordshire Police

The complainant requested information relating to online video footage of a police officer talking to a hunt monitor. After making initial enquiries with the complainant in relation to the footage, Staffordshire Police cited section 21 and provided a link to its Privacy Notice regarding information sharing. Ultimately, at internal review, Staffordshire Police said it did not hold any information relating to the incident in the footage and refused to provide the requested information, citing section 12(1) of FOIA (cost of compliance), as it said to do so would exceed the appropriate cost and time limit. The complainant did not challenge Staffordshire Police’s position that it does not hold any information relating to the video footage incident and instead centered his complaint on its reliance on section 12(1) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that Staffordshire Police was not obliged to comply with the request under section 12(1) of FOIA. He also finds that Staffordshire Police complied with its section 16 FOIA obligations. The Commissioner does not require Staffordshire Police to take any steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.