Privacy Notice - Contacting Police Scotland
Date of Publication – 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.pnn.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 a non-crime purpose.
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.
Purpose and Lawful Basis for Processing etc.
Why we process your personal information
When you contact us by telephone, email or text to make a report of a non-crime occurrence, we will log and respond to such reports. The record of your call may also be used for training purposes.
(If you contact us to report a crime or related incident, this is dealt with under law enforcement legislation.
These are dealt with in accordance with the Law Enforcement Privacy Notice which can be found within the Privacy Notice – Law Enforcement).
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Public task – Article 6(1)(e)
Substantial public interest – Article 9(2)(g)
Personal and / or special category data provided by you when relevant
Name, Date of birth, Gender phone number, occupation, address / current location.
Racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health information. Biometric information.
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Name, Date of birth, Gender phone number, occupation, address / current location.
Racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health information.
Types of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
May include personal data such as name and address, and special category data such as health, depending on what information the caller knows about you.
Source of personal data when not provided by the person to whom it relates
Members of public, other emergency services, NHS 24.
The Length of time we keep your information can be viewed within our Record Retention SOP – (Operations – Reference OPS-020)
We may share your information with other individuals such as:
Other emergency services, NHS 24, Regulatory bodies,
Survey and research organisations (for example, to test and improve services and carry out research)
When you contact us by telephone, email or text to report lost property, we will log your details. The record of your call may also be used for training purposes.
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Public task – Article 6(1)(e)
Substantial public interest – Article 9(2)(g)
Personal and / or special category data provided by you when relevant
Name, date of birth, biometric information, address and phone number and details of the property lost.
The Length of time we keep your information can be viewed within our
Record Retention SOP (Operations – Reference OPS-016 & 017)
When you contact us by telephone, email or text to ask to contact a specific department, Officer or member of Police staff, we will record your details. The record of your call may also be used for training purposes.
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Public task – Article 6(1)(e)
Substantial public interest – Article 9(2)(g)
Personal and / or special category data provided by you when relevant
Name, phone number, biometric information.
The Length of time we keep your information can be viewed within our
Record Retention SOP (Operations – Reference OPS-021)
When we are contacted by third-parties in relation to specific incidents or individuals (non-law enforcement) we will log and either, respond or forward that information to the relevant department / division. The record of your call may also be used for training purposes.
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Public task – Article 6(1)(e)
Substantial public interest – Article 9(2)(g)
Categories of personal data when not provided by you
Name, gender, date of birth, address, phone number.
Racial / ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sex life / sexual orientation, health information, biometric information.
Source of personal data when not provided by you
Members of the public, partners such as Social Work Department and third sector agencies such as Barnardo’s.
The Length of time we keep your information can be viewed within our
Record Retention SOP (Operations – Reference OPS-021)
This information is either:
- a) passed to the appropriate departments within Police Scotland who will respond / retain it in accordance with the relevant sections of the SOP and these details will be recorded where appropriate on the relevant privacy notices: or
- b) responses are provided to third parties verbally.
We also may share this information with:
- Social Work Department and third sector agencies such as Barnardo’s.
- Survey and research organisations (for example, to test and improve services and carry out research)
- Regulatory bodies
To understand and improve the public’s experience with Police Scotland, Progressive Partnership Ltd carry out Experience Surveys on our behalf with the public to evaluate our performance and effectiveness
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Public task – Article 6(1)(e)
Personal and / or special category data provided by you when relevant
Name, phone number.
Our lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) for processing
Public task – Article 6(1)(e)
Personal and / or special category data provided by you when relevant
Name, phone number.
The Length of time we keep your information can be viewed within our Record Retention SOP (Administration General – Reference ADM-030)
We also may share this information with:
- Survey and research organisations (for example, to test and improve services and carry out research)
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)
If we process your Biometric Data (information about your physical, biological, physiological, or behavioural characteristics) for example, your fingerprints, photograph of your face or, samples taken from any part of your body and you are unhappy in any way with how we have dealt with your information, you have the right to complain to the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner.
The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner can be contacted at:
Bridgeside House
99 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NS
Contact@biometricscommissioner.scot
Tel: 0131 202 1043
Date of next review of this document – January 2025