House of Commons - Police Information Notices

Police Information Notices - Home Affairs Contents

Summary

· PINs are an operational matter left up to each force and this has resulted in examples of inconsistent use between forces, as well as within forces themselves. There is no sharing of information between police forces on PINs, which strongly undermines Chief Constables' ability to assess their force's usage. Each force should publish the number of PINs issued on their websites on a monthly basis. The Home Office should collate and publish annual data about the number of PINs issued by each force, including the number of cases in which repeat victimisation was reported following the issuing of a PIN, and the number of prosecutions that followed. This will enable Chief Constables to see how their force compares to other forces.

· The lack of any procedure for appealing against a PIN can feel very unfair to recipients. As already specified in the guidance, the intended recipient of a PIN should at least be given the opportunity to give their account of the situation before a police decision is made on the issuance of a PIN. This is not happening in many cases at the moment. Each police force should provide details of the complaints process to recipients alongside the original PIN. Each police force should provide a monthly list of the number of PINs issued, alongside details of the complaints process, on their website.

· PINs can be a useful tool for stopping harassment, meeting the needs of the victim and addressing problematic behaviour. However, there is a clear danger that they may be used inappropriately if they are not done in conjunction with good risk assessment and sufficient investigation. It is vital that police forces provide further training to officers on the appropriate use of PINs, highlighting in particular that the use of a PIN is generally not appropriate where an investigation has established evidence of a course of conduct. The ACPO and College of Policing review of practice advice should take these issues into account. We hope that our successor Committee will monitor the issue of PINs to assess whether these improvements take place.

Police Information Notices

1. A Police Information Notice (PIN), sometimes called a Harassment Warning Notice, is a notice which the police may issue in cases where there are allegations of harassment. Police Information Notices (PINs) have no statutory basis. They are not provided for in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and do not themselves constitute any kind of formal legal action. The decision about whether to issue a PIN is an operational matter for the police. There is no formal police procedure that must be followed, and no limit on the period for which they have effect. They are not formal police cautions, and signing one does not imply that the alleged harassment has taken place. However, the police may use them in future legal proceedings.[1]

WHAT ARE PINS?

2. Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, it is a criminal offence to pursue a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another person, where the person pursuing the course of conduct knows (or ought to know) that their behaviour amounts to harassment (which can include alarming a person or causing them distress).[2] There need to be at least two separate occasions of conduct which, together, can be said to amount to harassment.[3]

3. During our 2008 inquiry into Domestic Violence, Forced Marriage and "Honour"-Based Violence, the Association of Chief Police Officers explained that loopholes were identified in the early operation of the 1997 Act, when those accused of stalking claimed that they did not know that their behaviour, such as sending flowers and cards, amounted to harassment, and that their intention was not to cause harassment, alarm or distress to the victim. Police forces began issuing suspects with a formal notice of warning that the victim alleged that their behaviour did indeed cause harassment, alarm and distress and that, should such activity continue, a prosecution could ensue.[4]

Improving practice advice

SHARING INFORMATION ON PINS

4. Data on PINs issued by police services in England and Wales are not collected centrally and are owned by the individual police force that issued the notice.[5] In the past year, around 900 PINs were issued in Greater Manchester, 1,500 in Sussex, and 2,900 in Thames Valley.[6] Chief Constable Sara Thornton of Thames Valley Police, Chair-designate of the Chief Constables' Council, argued that she did not think it "necessarily is a bad thing if you have higher numbers, but we do need to start asking the questions."[7] Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne argued that the outcome was the most important issue, namely that there was "no continuance of issues of harassment following them. That is important from the victim's point of view."[8]

5. The issuing of Police Information Notices is an operational matter left up to each force, which has resulted in examples of inconsistent use between forces, as well as within forces themselves. There is no sharing of information between police forces on PINs, which strongly undermines Chief Constables' ability to assess their forces' usage. Each force should publish the number of PINs issued on their websites on a monthly basis. The Home Office should collate and publish annual data about the number of PINs issued by each force, including the number of cases in which repeat victimisation was reported following the issuing of a PIN, and the number of prosecutions that followed. This will enable Chief Constables to see how their force compares to other forces.

RIGHT TO APPEAL A PIN

6. As the notice has no legal force, there is no formal right of appeal against it being issued. However a recipient who is aggrieved about receiving one can make a complaint through the issuing force's complaints procedure. Human rights organisation Liberty argues that that individuals who feel aggrieved could complain to the force, and if necessary appeal to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.[9]

7. The lack of any procedure for appealing against a PIN can feel very unfair to recipients. As already specified in the guidance, the intended recipient of a PIN should at least be given the opportunity to give their account of the situation before a police decision is made on the issuance of a PIN. This is not happening in many cases at the moment. Each police force should provide details of the complaints process to recipients alongside the original PIN. Each police force should provide a monthly list of the number of PINs issued, alongside details of the complaints process, on their website.

IMPROVING TRAINING ON PINS

8. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 created two new offences which were inserted into the 1997 Act:

a) Stalking, which is harassment where the acts or omissions involved in the course of conduct are ones associated with stalking, such as following somebody, contacting them or monitoring their electronic communications, and

b) Stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm and distress, which is stalking which, on at least two occasions, causes the victim to fear that violence will be used against them, or causes them serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on their usual day-to-day activities.

The Crown Prosecution Service states that the new stalking offences highlighted stalking as a specific behaviour as opposed to harassment more generally, and also closed the gap when a course of conduct fell short of causing a victim to feel fear of violence but nevertheless caused a victim serious alarm or distress.[10]

9. Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, the ACPO Lead for Stalking and Harassment, believes that forces and individual officers are "still hesitant" about using the new legislation, and are instead using warnings such as PINs as a way forward. He is working on the issue with the Director of Public Prosecutions.[11] Assistant Chief Constable Shewan told us that some cases which had resulted in the victim being killed had followed the inappropriate use of PINs at an earlier stage of the process.[12]

10. In March 2014, the Committee of Privileges considered the actions of Sussex Police in relation to their issuing of a PIN to Tim Loughton, the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (and who is now a member of this Committee), namely whether their actions and the issuing of that PIN to Mr Loughton was a breach of parliamentary privilege. The Committee concluded that Sussex Police "have clearly made a serious mistake" and that "it would be appropriate for the PIN issued to Mr Loughton to be withdrawn." Sussex Police accepted the findings of the Committee's Report and withdrew the PIN issued to Mr Loughton.[13] Sussex Police completed a review of their policy relating to PINs in April 2014. The review concluded that there were "areas of non-compliance and concern surrounding the use and application of PINs in the force" and recommended steps "to increase the knowledge and understanding amongst officers/staff in relation to PINs and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 as amended by The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012."[14] We welcome the apologies made by Acting Chief Constable Giles York to the Committee of Privileges, and by former Chief Constable Martin Richards to this Committee.[15] We note that former Chief Constable Martin Richards did not take the opportunity to apologise to Mr Loughton, and recommend that he does so.

11. The last time that practice advice on PINs was reviewed was in 2009. ACC Shewan argues that that is a "growing gap between the intention of the practice advice in 2009 and the actual use of Police Information Notices in 2015."[16] ACPO and the College of Policing are currently reviewing the practice advice and are assessing local reviews, including the Sussex review, to inform their discussions of PINs.[17]

12. PINs can be a useful tool for stopping harassment, meeting the needs of the victim and addressing problematic behaviour. However, there is a clear danger that they may be used inappropriately if they are not done in conjunction with good risk assessment and sufficient investigation. It is vital that police forces provide further guidance and training to officers on the appropriate use of PINs, highlighting in particular that the use of a PIN is generally not appropriate where an investigation has established evidence of a course of conduct. Remedial courses should also be given to police officers who have used PINs inappropriately. The ACPO and College of Policing review of practice advice should take these issues into account. We hope that our successor Committee will monitor the issue of PINs to assess whether these improvements take place.

1 Practice Advice on Investigating Stalking and Harassment (ACPO/NPIA, 2009) Back

2 Protection from Harassment Act 1997, Section 1 Back

3 Protection from Harassment Act 1997, Section 7 Back

4 House of Commons, Harassment: 'Police Information Notices' - Commons Library Standard Note, 4 September 2012 Back

5 Damian Green, Hansard, 12 May 2014, col. 411W Back

6 Q28, Chief Constable Thornton Back

7 Q30, Chief Constable Thornton Back

8 Q63, Katy Bourne Back

9 "Does a harassment warning amount to a penalty without a fair hearing?" Guardian, 9 September 2010 Back

10 Crown Prosecution Service, Stalking and Harassment Back

11 Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse, Interview: Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan QPM, April 2014 Back

12 Q16, Assistant Chief Constable Shewan Back