Subject Access Request to Gloucestershire Constabulary

Gloucestershire Constabulary asks you to use its online right of access form. It also accepts a completed subject access request form by post or by email, and the address above is the one it prints on that form. The force publishes two versions of the same mailbox: informationdisclosureunit@gloucestershire.police.uk on the form, and informationdisclosureunit@gloucestershire.pnn.police.uk in its privacy notice and data protection policy. Both reach the Information Disclosure team, which the force says processes all subject access requests. If one bounces, try the other. Two other mailboxes exist and neither is a route for a subject access request: Records.Management@gloucestershire.pnn.police.uk is designated for erasure and rectification, and data.protectionoffice@gloucestershire.police.uk is the data protection officer's advice contact. The force says a request can also be made by telephone but publishes no number for it on any of its web pages; the only number it gives in a subject access context is 01452 754304, in its downloadable form, for help completing the application, answered Monday to Friday 10am to 2pm. The same form says the force cannot give you information held on police systems over the telephone or by email before your request is completed. The force says it will respond within one calendar month, but counts that month from when it has both a fully completed form and proof of your identity, not from when you first write. It can extend by a further two months where a request is complex or numerous, and says it will tell you within one month if it does. A subject access request is free. Records of arrests, cautions and convictions held on the Police National Computer go to ACRO, not to the force, and the force's own form says not to use it for those. A criminal record check for an employer is a DBS check. The force adds its own reason: certain details in an ACRO disclosure by law do not have to be disclosed to an employer. It is a criminal offence for an employer to require you to make a subject access request as a condition of employment or of providing goods or services, and the force's form asks whether anyone has done so and says it may pass the details to the Information Commissioner's Office. A collision report is a separate chargeable route, not a subject access request. The force charges a £38.00 search and administration fee on every request received, £140.00 for a collision report and £38.00 for third-party limited information, rising to £500.00 for a serious injury collision investigation report and £970.00 for a fatal one. Two things to know before you send identity documents. The force asks for copies of two documents and says in capitals not to send originals because they will not be returned — then says elsewhere in the same form that where it asks for originals it returns them by registered post. Send copies. One of them should ideally be photographic, your proof of address must show you have lived there within the last six months, and if you have changed your name the force asks for documents evidencing the change. Where what you are asking for may identify someone else, the force may want that person's written agreement and two proofs of their identity as well. Ask early if you want footage. Non-evidential body worn video is automatically deleted after 31 days, mobile CCTV van footage is overwritten after 30 days unless it is marked for retention, and automatic number plate recognition data is weeded at 12 months. Footage marked as evidential is kept longer. The force publishes no retention period for custody images, saying only that how long they are kept depends on whether you were convicted and the type of offence, and publishes no figure for call recordings. If the reply is late or looks incomplete, check what a complete response should contain, and see when a request can be refused or limited. You can also write the request yourself instead of using the force's form.

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.