Chief Constable of Essex Police

The complainant has requested the individual email addresses for 20 named police officers from the Chief Constable of Essex Police (Essex Police).
Essex Police has refused to confirm or deny that it holds the requested information, citing sections 40 (third party personal data), 31 (law enforcement) and 38 (health and safety) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that Essex Police has demonstrated that section 40(5B) is engaged in relation to some of the names, but not the remainder. It has not demonstrated that either section 31(3) or section 38(2) are engaged in respect of the remaining names. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Confirm, to the complainant, whether it holds the email addresses of the 15 officers identified in paragraph 26 of this decision notice. If it does hold any of these email addresses, it must either disclose them or issue a refusal notice that complies with section 17 of FOIA.