Requesting documents from the police

Cromulent · 20 Mar 2019 at 18:27

I've always been interested in history and part of that includes being interested in historical crimes (both solved and unsolved) and I was wondering if it were possible to request old case files from the police under the freedom of information act? I would find it incredibly interesting to learn about old cases the police have investigated.

mmj_uk · 20 Mar 2019 at 18:36

I wouldn't ask the police are likely to take 100 officers off the streets of London for a trip to the archives what with their upside down list of priorities.

There used to be a list of US death row inmates crime records floating around, that was quite interesting if you can stomach it.

d_brennen · 20 Mar 2019 at 18:37

I think with an FOI you'd need to be specific about a case/cases or define what you would like to know.

I doubt they would just dump some dusty boxes on your doorstep and say have at it. Worth asking though

Cromulent · 20 Mar 2019 at 18:45

I guess you are right. Sorry, should have thought about it a bit more before posting. I do find the whole thing really interesting though in a kind of macabre way.

Nasher · 20 Mar 2019 at 19:47

FOIs do need to be specific and certain things can be removed. They won't just do a broad search for a subject and send you whatever they find. I've had to do the actual searches for some in the past for another government agency

Thecaferacer · 20 Mar 2019 at 21:29

You can only request information held about yourself under FOI. You can request answers to specific questions, i.e how many officers off long term, how much spent on a certain type of crime etc, but you have no right to old case files unless they've been released to the national archives for public viewing.

Most really old case files are likely destroyed too

Nasher · 20 Mar 2019 at 21:33

You can ask for information about something other than yourself. But you still have to be specific and if it's something sensitive or classified you'll get told no. The data for what you request might be located at a certain site and not centralised so someone has to take time out of their normal job to look, so requests do get filtered.

Most requests that get through are for course cases etc and the details make their way to the public that way.

ScoTTyBEEE · 20 Mar 2019 at 21:37

Authors must get hold of this stuff to write the myriad of books covering solved and unsolved cases.

Thecaferacer · 21 Mar 2019 at 06:26

ScoTTyBEEE said:
Authors must get hold of this stuff to write the myriad of books covering solved and unsolved cases.

Case material can be made available through other means. For instance the defence teams are entitled to a copy of the file with redactions for sensitive data or legal privilege. As Nasher has said, specific information can be released for purposes of say study, review etc but an entire case has so much confidential material that it won't be released as a full MG series case.

TJM · 21 Mar 2019 at 08:17

The police and CPS will eventually destroy case files (except for unsolved major crimes and those of significant historical interest, which may end up in the National Archives). There would be too much sensitive personal information to redact to release them.

And case files aren’t page turners. CRIS reports, as an example, are tedious to read.

Burnsy2023 · 21 Mar 2019 at 08:52

Thecaferacer said:
You can only request information held about yourself under FOI.

You're thinking about subject access requests under the data protection act, not FoIA.

Tony Edwards · 21 Mar 2019 at 13:12

mmj_uk said:
I wouldn't ask the police are likely to take 100 officers off the streets of London for a trip to the archives what with their upside down list of priorities.

There used to be a list of US death row inmates crime records floating around, that was quite interesting if you can stomach it.

Im not even sure if there are 100 police on the streets of London anymore.

ScoTTyBEEE said:
Authors must get hold of this stuff to write the myriad of books covering solved and unsolved cases.

If my research is correct (True Detective) You have to be a youngish flirty pretty women. Not going to assume gender but. Good luck OP.

Donnie Fisher · 21 Mar 2019 at 13:23

Quite a few forces have museums and such like. For historical crimes, there might be a good place to start. About 20 years ago, one of my flatmates did his history dissertation on victorian crime and policing in Manchester and approached whatever the museum was at the time, who proved to be extremely helpful.