Subject Access Request to Essex Police

Essex Police gives three routes. Its online form is the quickest; its privacy notice also says, of the right of access, "Alternatively, to exercise this right please email: info.rights.of.access@essex.police.uk", and the Information Rights Team takes applications by post. If you email, use the address above rather than copying one off the force's contact page: that page displays six mailboxes without the "info." prefix that its own links use, so the address you can read and the address the link sends to are not the same. Essex says it can limit access where that "would reveal information about another person who can be identified from that information". If you are asking for footage or a custody photograph it tightens the identification it wants, to a passport or photo driving licence. The deadline depends on which of your records you are asking for, and the force sets out both. For law enforcement records — most of what a police force holds about you — it says the data must be supplied within one month and that "the DPA does not give us an opportunity to extend that deadline". For its general processing it says one month extendable by a further two, with notice of the extension inside the first month. Arrests, cautions and convictions sit on the Police National Computer, and Essex points those applications at ACRO. A criminal record check for a job is a different process again, run by the Disclosure and Barring Service. Applications are free, and the force says the right can be exercised verbally as well as in writing, though it publishes no number for that. A child under 16 can apply directly where Essex is satisfied they understand the right. It can refuse an application it considers manifestly unfounded or excessive under section 53 of the Data Protection Act, giving as an example one that would take more than 30 hours of work in the first month, and it can charge for courier or signed-for delivery if you ask for it.

Made under Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (law enforcement processing), and UK GDPR Article 15 for non-policing purposes

A request to a police force is not a straightforward Article 15 request. Where a force is processing your data as a competent authority for law enforcement purposes, your right of access comes from section 45 of the Data Protection Act 2018 rather than the UK GDPR. The practical effect is similar — you are entitled to a copy of your personal data — but the restrictions available to the force are different and broader.

The same force may hold data about you under both regimes at once. Intelligence entries, custody records and incident logs sit under Part 3; an employment file, a firearms licence application or a complaint you made as a member of the public may sit under the UK GDPR. A single request can cover both, and the force should deal with each under the correct regime.

Police records sit in two places, and which one you want decides who you ask. Arrests, charges, cautions, convictions and firearms certificates are held nationally on the Police National Computer, and requests for that national record are handled centrally rather than by your local force. Everything a particular investigation generated stays with the force that dealt with it: custody records and custody photographs, body-worn video, 999 and 101 recordings, statements you or others gave, interview notes, and reports of incidents you reported. A national request will not return local material and a local request will not return the national record, so if you want both you make two requests. Scottish records sit on a separate national system again.

This is separate from a criminal record certificate, and which body issues one depends on where you are. In England and Wales it is the Disclosure and Barring Service, whose basic check guidance for applicants explains what you get; in Scotland it is Disclosure Scotland, whose Level 1 and Level 2 disclosures replaced basic, standard and enhanced disclosures on 1 April 2025 — mygov.scot sets out the levels; in Northern Ireland it is AccessNI, and nidirect lists the types of AccessNI check. ACRO issues police certificates for emigration and visa applications. None of these is a subject access request, and people routinely make one when they wanted a certificate instead, then lose months finding out.

• Incident and crime reports where you are named
• Custody records and detention logs
• Intelligence entries and markers held against you
• Body-worn video and 999 or 101 call recordings
• Records of stop and search encounters

Deadline. An organisation must respond without undue delay and within one month. It may extend by up to two further months where the request is complex or you have made a number of requests, but it must tell you within the first month that it is doing so, and why.

Cost. There is normally no fee. A reasonable fee may only be charged where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, or where you ask for further copies.

Proving who you are. An organisation may ask you to verify your identity, but only where it has reasonable doubts about who you are, and it should ask for the minimum needed. Where it needs further information to deal with your request, the one-month clock pauses until you provide it.

How hard they have to look. An organisation has to carry out a reasonable and proportionate search — not an exhaustive one. What counts as reasonable depends on the volume of information, the difficulty of locating it, and the size and resources of the organisation. This is a common reason for a partial response, and it is worth being specific about what you want.

If they ignore you. Complain to the organisation first. Since 19 June 2026 every organisation has had a legal duty to give you a clear way to raise a data protection complaint, to acknowledge it within 30 days, to look into it properly and to tell you the outcome. If it does not, or the answer is incomplete, you can then complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.