Privacy Notice - Professional Standards Department
Date of completion of this notice – January 2024
Who we are
The Police Service of Scotland is a constabulary established under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012.
Its headquarters is located at Tulliallan Castle, Kincardine, FK10 4BE, United Kingdom, and you can contact our Data Protection Officer by post at this address, by email at dataprotection@scotland.police.uk, and by telephone on 101.
About this notice
This notice is to advise you (you are also referred to as the data subject) of how your personal data (information) will be dealt with (processed) by Police Scotland and your rights in relation to the processing.
This notice covers information processed for non-crime and (where applicable) crime-related purposes. For further details of processing for crime-related purposes, please refer to the ‘Police Scotland Law Enforcement Privacy Notice’.
The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland is the controller of your personal information and decides the purposes for which your personal information will be processed. Police Scotland can be contacted by telephoning 101.
The information below provides you with details of:
- why we process your personal information
- what our lawful basis is for processing it
- the information provided by you
- the types of personal information we hold if not provided by you
- the source of the information if not provided by you
- the length of time we will keep your information
- who we will share it with.
In addition to the details below, your information may also be used by Police Scotland for administrative purposes such as system testing, training and audit purposes. Where this is the case, the processing will be in accordance with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
Where information has been processed previously for Law Enforcement purposes, any further use will not be incompatible with the original purpose for which the information was processed, and will be authorised by law.
What is personal data?
“Personal data” is information that can identify you, for example name, address, date of birth. It also includes alleged or actual offending information when processed for non-crime purposes.
There is also another type of personal data which is called “special category personal data”. This is information which relates to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data, sex life or sexual orientation.
Why we process your personal information
To investigate complaints against the police
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)
Substantial public interest – Article 9(2)(g)
Personal and / or special category data provided by the data subject when relevant
Name, gender, address, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, details of complaint
When / required / provided: racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Officer(s) involved: name, rank, shoulder number, division
Officer(s) involved: when known / required / provided: racial /ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Person making complaint
Police systems
Length of time we keep your information Record Retention SOP (Professional Standards - PST-001 to PST-003)
Organisations or individuals we may share your information with
Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) for independent investigation of incidents
Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to audit the complaints handling procedures.
To investigate allegations of corruption or criminality
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)
Public Task:
- Part 3 Data Protection Act 2018
- Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012
- The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (Section 46)10
In the case of Lawful Business Monitoring usage:
The Investigatory Powers (Interception by Businesses etc for Monitoring and Record-keeping purposes) Regulations 2018.
Personal and / or special category data provided by the data subject when relevant
Name, gender, address, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, details of complaint
When / required / provided: racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Relating to person(s)against whom concerns expressed: name, gender, department, phone number, email address, details of alleged concerns, rank, shoulder number, PSI and when required / provided: date of birth.
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Police Systems
Audit Trail Appliance (LBM)
Person Making Complaint
Length of time we keep your information
Record Retention SOP (Crime and Productions - CRP001-CRP006)
Organisations or individuals we may share your information with
See ‘Privacy Notice – Law Enforcement’ for details.
To investigate allegations of police misconduct
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
- A legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)
- Substantial public interest – Article 9(2)(g)
Personal and / or special category data provided by the data subject when relevant
Name, gender, address, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, details of complaint
When / required / provided: racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Officer(s) allegedly involved: name, gender, address, date of birth, phone number, email address, details of alleged misconduct.
When required / provided: racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Police Systems
Person Making Complaint
Length of time we keep your information
Record Retention SOP (Professional Standards - PST-001 to PST-003)
Organisations or individuals we may share your information with
Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) for independent investigation of incidents
Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to audit the complaints handling procedures.
Specialist investigations including reports of conduct or integrity concerns (whistleblowing)
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
A legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)
Personal and / or special category data provided by the data subject when relevant
Name, gender, address, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, details of complaint
When / required / provided: racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Officer(s) allegedly involved: name, gender, address, date of birth, phone number, email address, details of alleged misconduct.
When required / provided: racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information.
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Police Systems
Person Making Complaint
Length of time we keep your information
Record Retention SOP (Professional Standards - PST-001 to PST-003)
Organisations or individuals we may share your information with
Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) for independent investigation of incidents
Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to audit the complaints handling procedures.
To provide the Divisional Commander / Head of Department with information to aid their decision making in relation to applications for business interests / secondary employment
Failure to declare a Business Interest or Secondary Employment (BISE) may be dealt with under The Police Service of Scotland (Conduct) Regulations 2013 or The Police Service of Scotland (Conduct) Regulations 2014 for Police Officers and the Disciplinary (Authority / Police Staff) SOP for SPA / Police.
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)
Personal and / or special category data provided by the data subject when relevant
Name, rank, PSI number, current posting, contact details. Full details of proposed business interest / secondary employment.
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Police Systems
Length of time we keep your information
Record Retention SOP (Professional Standards - PST-004 and PST-005)
To determine whether Police Scotland needs to take any further action against officers who received Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN)
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c)
Personal and / or special category data provided by the data subject when relevant
Name, rank, PSI, division, details of the reason the FPN was accepted
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Personal and / or special category data held on police systems
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Police Systems
Length of time we keep your information
Record Retention SOP (Professional Standards - PST-006)
Your Rights
You have certain rights in relation to how we process your personal information. These are listed below.
Right of access
You can make what is called a subject access request to us.
You are entitled to, amongst other things, a copy of the information we hold on you, although there are exceptions to this.
For further information and details on how to make a subject access request please visit the Police Scotland website.
Right to rectification (correction)
We must correct without delay, any personal information we hold on you which is not accurate.
If you think anything is wrong, you should contact us by post or e mail, where possible by completing the form on our website at https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights telling us what you think is wrong and why. There are exceptions to when we have to correct the information, and you will be advised if we have to apply them.
If it is not possible to establish the accuracy of the personal information, we will restrict how we process it, for example restrict who can see your information, or who we disclose it to.
Right to erasure or restriction of processing
You have a right to request that we delete your personal information, but this will only be done when we are not legally required to keep it.
On occasion it may be more appropriate to restrict how we process it, for example restrict who can see your information, or who we disclose it to.
You can find more information on our website at https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights
Right to Object
You also have the right to object to the processing we carry out, if our legal basis for doing so, (see the ‘Purpose and basis for processing’ table above), is for carrying out a task in the public interest, exercising our lawful duty or we believe it is in our legitimate interests.
You can find more information on our website at https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights
For more information about any of these rights, go to www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/your-rights or email information.assurance@scotland.pnn.police.uk.
If we refuse to carry out your requests in full under paragraphs 1 to 4 above, you have the right to ask the Information Commissioner to check whether our decision is correct.
If you are unhappy in any way with how we have dealt with your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)
Date of next review – January 2025
