Who is afraid of the McCann? South Yorkshire Police force, for sure, among many others...

A few months ago, I sent a mail to South Yorkshire Police with 3 simple questions:

1 - When and why did they deleted, from their website, the page dedicated to Keela ["The Diary of Keela"], the "wonder dog"?
2- Is the dog still being used on crime investigations?

They just ignore me and didn'd even replied to me. As IPSO exists for complaining against incorrect behavior of newspapers, what's the proper institution to whom I can send a complain, due to this unacceptable attitude of South Yorkshire Police?

Regards and thank you in advcance

Paulo Reis
pjcv.reis@gmail.com

I've sent you an email Paulo.

thank you!!!!

TO: Info@southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk [Chief Executive and Solicitor of Police and Crime Panel (PCP)]


CC: complaints_and_discipline@southyorks.pnn.police.uk / enquiries@policeconduct.gov.uk

Dear Sir,

I’m a Portuguese freelance journalist and I’ve been following the case of Madeleine McCann since 2007. As I am finishing a book about the case ["A Guerra dos McCann" - "The McCann War"] On August 7h, this year, I sent a email to South Yorkshire Police force, with 3 questions, related with Keela, the spring spaniel considered a "wonder dog", due to it's capacities and that was used in Madeleine MacCann investigation, in Portugal. These were the questions:

1 – Why (and when) the content of the page about Keela was replaced with a age progressed picture of Madeleine McCann?

2 – Why there is no reference, now, at all, on South Yorkshire Police site, about Keela, when in 2005 it was considered, by Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes (report by “The Sun”, not available on the site of the newspaper) that "Keela’s training gives the force an edge when it comes to forensic investigation, which we should recognize and use more often”?

3 - Does South Yorkshire Police still uses Keela on crime investigations?

Until now, September 30 2018, I had no reply from South Yorkshire Police Force...

Best regards

Paulo Reis
(00351) 967 761 196

Jill Havern wrote:I've sent you an email Paulo

Thk u, already replied to u

Hello Paulo,
Would you please tell me the following:
a) When will your book be available?
b) Where can you obtain it?
c) Will an English Version be available?
Thank you

intimacyandjoy wrote:Hello Paulo,
Would you please tell me the following:
a) When will your book be available?
b) Where can you obtain it?
c) Will an English Version be available?
Thank you

 It will be published end of November/begining of December. It will be on sale online, at several publishers websites [FNAC, Bertrand, etc] - but only in Portuguese, for now. If the income from the Portuguese version is enough for me to pay for a review of the translation to English that I will made, the English version may be on sale in the first months of next year...

Excellent on both counts.

Please let us know when the book is first published so that we can promote it online.

sharonl wrote:Excellent on both counts.

Please let us know when the book is first published so that we can promote it online.

Ok.. as you know, the precise date is something that will be set up by the publisher, but it has to be before Christmas, to catch that sales period...

Well done.   I doubt you will get a response.   It seems to be the Britsh way these days.   Ignore all complaints and  the problem will go away!   NO IT WONT, it makes people more determined.

I believe that ignoring these complaints breaches human rights act but nobody seems to care.

plebgate wrote:Well done.   I doubt you will get a response.   It seems to be the Britsh way these days.   Ignore all complaints and  the problem will go away!   NO IT WONT, it makes people more determined.

I believe that ignoring these complaints breaches human rights act but nobody seems to care.

Can somebody tell me if a foreign citizen, like me, can make a FOI request with the UK authorities?

https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request

The Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives you the right to access recorded information held by public sector organisations.
Anyone can request information – there are no restrictions on your age, nationality or where you live.

Jill Havern wrote:https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request

The Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives you the right to access recorded information held by public sector organisations.
Anyone can request information – there are no restrictions on your age, nationality or where you live.

Thank you, Jill. I'll wait a few days for a reply to my complains about SY Police. If I don't get it, I will go for a FOI...

pjcvreis wrote:

sharonl wrote:Excellent on both counts.

Please let us know when the book is first published so that we can promote it online.

Ok.. as you know, the precise date is something that will be set up by the publisher, but it has to be before Christmas, to catch that sales period...

Google has great little phone app called Google Translate, just switch on the camera and hover over the text.  

I'm looking forward to reading this book.

From: FOI
Sent: 04 October 2018 10:08
To: 'Paulo Reis '
Subject: Freedom of Information Ref:- LM 20181838
 
Dear Mr Reis
 
The following questions have been passed to this department to answer under Freedom of Information Legislation.
 
1 – Why (and when) the content of the page about Keela was replaced with a age progressed picture of Madeleine McCann?

2 – Why there is no reference, now, at all, on South Yorkshire Police site, about Keela, when in 2005 it was considered, by Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes (report by “The Sun”, not available on the site of the newspaper) that "Keela’s training gives the force an edge when it comes to forensic investigation, which we should recognize and use more often”?

3 - Does South Yorkshire Police still uses Keela on crime investigations?
 
Your request for information above has been considered and unfortunately, I am unable to supply you with what you require. Your request is not asking for information held in a recorded format but is instead asking for opinion and explanation/judgement.
 
As you may be aware, Freedom of Information legislation concerns recorded information; Public Bodies are not obliged to create data purely to facilitate such requests. Therefore, in essence, your correspondence does not fulfil the criteria to be ‘valid’ as set out in Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000.


You may find the following links of interest:
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1164/recognising-a-request-made-under-the-foia.pdf
https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/official-information/
 
We would be happy to reconsider any request for recorded information if you would like to re-submit a request which meets the FOI legislation.
 
The following link to our website may also assist
https://www.southyorkshire.police.uk/find-out/right-to-information/foi/
 
Yours sincerely
Lucy Moore
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY
               
Email - foi@southyorks.pnn.police.uk
 
 
To find out who your local Safer Neighbourhood Team officer is, how to contact them, and to find out what’s happening in your area enter your postcode at http://neighbourhood.southyorks.police.uk
 
South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration

Looks like you need to re-word your FOI request and send it in again Paulo.

Have a look at the FOI's Tony has sent https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/f49-foi-requests-into-the-disappearance-of-madeleine-mccann

pjcvreis wrote:From: FOI
Sent: 04 October 2018 10:08
To: 'Paulo Reis '
Subject: Freedom of Information Ref:- LM 20181838
 
Dear Mr Reis
 
The following questions have been passed to this department to answer under Freedom of Information Legislation.
 
1 – Why (and when) the content of the page about Keela was replaced with a age progressed picture of Madeleine McCann?

2 – Why there is no reference, now, at all, on South Yorkshire Police site, about Keela, when in 2005 it was considered, by Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes (report by “The Sun”, not available on the site of the newspaper) that "Keela’s training gives the force an edge when it comes to forensic investigation, which we should recognize and use more often”?

3 - Does South Yorkshire Police still uses Keela on crime investigations?
 
Your request for information above has been considered and unfortunately, I am unable to supply you with what you require. Your request is not asking for information held in a recorded format but is instead asking for opinion and explanation/judgement.
 
As you may be aware, Freedom of Information legislation concerns recorded information; Public Bodies are not obliged to create data purely to facilitate such requests. Therefore, in essence, your correspondence does not fulfil the criteria to be ‘valid’ as set out in Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000.


You may find the following links of interest:
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1164/recognising-a-request-made-under-the-foia.pdf
https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/official-information/
 
We would be happy to reconsider any request for recorded information if you would like to re-submit a request which meets the FOI legislation.
 
The following link to our website may also assist
https://www.southyorkshire.police.uk/find-out/right-to-information/foi/
 
Yours sincerely
Lucy Moore
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY
               
Email - foi@southyorks.pnn.police.uk
 
 
To find out who your local Safer Neighbourhood Team officer is, how to contact them, and to find out what’s happening in your area enter your postcode at http://neighbourhood.southyorks.police.uk
 
South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration

Dear Mrs. Lucy Moore,

Twice (on August 7th and September 9th - see attached screenshots, please and reproduction, at the end of this text), I asked South Yorkshire Police (enquiries@southyorks.pnn.police.uk ) the above mentioned questions, as a journalist, expecting from SYPF, at least, a reply to my emails. The questions I asked, I believe are normal questions, from a journalistic point of view. I also believe that the subject of those questions is not under the The Official Secrets Act of 1989 . But SYPF just ignored me, completely and didn't even relied to me - a question of being polite, at least...

Allow me to raise only a point, related with your email. You mention that " Freedom of Information legislation concerns recorded information".

Am I correct to assume that there is no recorded information, with SYPF website manager/s or with SYPF records, in general, about orders being given (either written or verbal) to replace the page dedicated to Keela, with a age progressed picture of Madeleine McCann? To be more clear, how are changes made, in the SYPF website? I presume, as it seems obvious, that instructions or orders must be given, by hierarchic superiors, to SYPF website manager/s about what to post on that website or what to change, right?

Am I correct to presume, also, that those kind of instructions must be part of your recorded information, like any other kind of orders/instructions given to members of that police force, by commanders and  hierarchic superiors? If I am correct, at least the information about when [the date...] the page dedicate to Keela was replaced by a  age progressed picture of Madeleine McCann, falls into the category of "recorded information", as stated in the Freedom of Information legislation, quoted by you, in on your email.

Let me also tell you that I am quite surprised with the fact that SYPF had an attitude of such disregard for basic rules that should govern the relationship between journalists and police forces (and also between people that knows what is being polite to each other...) when SYPF completely ignored and left without any reply my two emails, posing questions of a clear journalistic nature. Something that is regrettable, in my humble opinion, because it comes from a police force of a nation that is the oldest democracy in the world...

Best regards
Paulo Reis
(00351) 967 761 196

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firts email to Sout Yorksire Police/ Agust 7th 2018 (Sent to: enquiries@southyorks.pnn.police.uk)

Tuesday, August 7th 2018
Subject: Questions about Keela - From Paulo Reis, Portuguese freelance journalist

Dear Sir,

I’m a Portuguese freelance journalist and I’ve been following the case of Madeleine McCann since 2007. I would like to ask a few questions  related with Keela, the spring spaniel that was subject of several reports, in the British Media, in 2005.
As the “Daily Mail” reported (December 30th 2005) “Keela, a 16-month-old springer spaniel, can sniff out the smallest samples of human blood - even after items have been cleaned or washed many times. The South Yorkshire Police dog has already helped forces across the country, including working on the high-profile stabbing of Abigail Witchalls in Surrey, and is hired out at £530 per day, plus expenses.”
The dog was considered to have unique capacities: “Her sense of smell is so keen she can sniff out blood on clothes after they have been washed repeatedly in biological powder. She can pick out microscopic amounts of blood even on weapons that have been scrubbed clean. And she is able to lead detectives to minuscule pieces of other evidence.” – wrote “The Sun”, on a story published on December 30th 2005 (not available on the site of the newspaper)
Keela, with another specialized dog, Eddie, were used in the investigation of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. On 2007, the South Yorkshire Police site had a page about Keela, but now the link goes to a page with a age progressed picture of Madie. The address is the same:
(https://www.southyorks.police.uk/kidzone/dogdiary/thisweek.php)
I would like to ask a few questions to South Yorkshire Police.
1 – Why (and when) was the content of the page about Keela replaced with the age progressed picture of Madeleine McCann?
2 – Why there is no reference, now, at all, on South Yorkshire Police site, about Keela, when in 2005 it was considered, by Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes (report by “The Sun”, not available on the site of the newspaper) that ”Keela’s training gives the force an edge when it comes to forensic investigation, which we should recognize and use more often”?
3 - Does South Yorkshire Police still uses Keela on crime investigations?
Best regards
Paulo Reis

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd email to email to Sout Yorksire Police/ September 7th 2018 (Sent to: enquiries@southyorks.pnn.police.uk)

On August 7th, I sent South Yorkshire Police force a set of questions, as a journalist, about "Keela", the so-called "wonder-dog", due to her capacities. I had no reply at all from South Yorkshire Police. Would you be so kind do reply to my questions, as your duty, as a Police force?
Paulo Reis

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi pjcvries,Welcome to the UK Police,South Yorkshire style(Rotherham 1400 Grooming Gang,they didn't know about?) if your part of the clan your okay?

willowthewisp wrote:Hi pjcvries,Welcome to the UK Police,South Yorkshire style(Rotherham 1400 Grooming Gang,they didn't know about?) if your part of the clan your okay?

You know, i lived 25 years in Macao, China. Know a little bit about how Chinese triads work... Not much difference...