Information Sharing Agreements (ISA)

Devon and Cornwall Police (DCP) works with a number of partner agencies to jointly tackle issues relating to policing, crime and anti-social behaviour, or where it is necessary to prevent harm to an individual.

Some sharing of information does not involve personal data, such as the sharing of statistical data, general crime information or trends which does not identify any individual. Where this occurs, data protection legislation does not apply.

The case-by-case disclosure of personal data must be in accordance with legislation, policy and only where necessary. Where regular sharing arrangements are required between the Force and partner agencies, this will be under an Information Sharing Agreement (ISA).

ISAs provide guidance on the process for sharing data between partner agencies, along with the legal basis for doing so. They are designed to develop and build channels that DCP and partner agencies can use to share information legally and with confidence.

ISAs are intended for use between partners where there is a two-way flow of information shared on a regular basis. In some ISAs the information will allow for a case-by-case decision to include copies of police owned images to assist the detection of offences, such as a breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order, or to support joint action between partner agencies. DCP will disclose images where there is a legal basis and where it is justified and necessary, examples of which include for Business Against Retail Crime Partnerships and Pub Watches.

DCP will share information based on the following hierarchy of legal powers:

A legal duty or obligation to disclose, e.g. Children's Act & Criminal Justice Act 2003.
A power to disclose under statute law, e.g. Crime & Disorder Act 1998, housing acts.
By the application of Common Law.

Human Rights Act 1998

DCP will work with our partner agencies to ensure that information will be made available in the least intrusive format to identify emerging issues, monitor joint performance, or jointly tackle individual behaviour. Article 8 does not preclude disclosures to partners where it is justified in the interest of national security, public safety, the economic well-being of the country, to prevent crime and disorder, or to protect the health, morals, rights and freedom of others.

There is a continual review of the ISAs owned by DCP and this includes ensuring current data protection legislation is inserted. While the main ISAs are listed below, there will also be other ISAs within our library of documents not externally published here. There are also other types of agreements, such as national Memorandum of Understandings and Service Level Agreements.

If you have a query relating to the regular sharing of police information please send it to the Information Sharing email account, or if you wish to see our Privacy Notice please follow the link here.

Non Emergency Directory (NED)