Police force
Subject Access Request to Police Scotland
What Police Scotland holds about you, where to send the request, and what to expect back.
GetMySAR is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of Police Scotland. The contact details below are published so you can make a request yourself free of charge.
Where to send your request
Verified 4 August 2026- Postal address
- Information Disclosure Police Scotland Second Floor, Woodhill House Westburn Road Aberdeen AB16 5GB
- Their own SAR form
- Open Police Scotland’s request form
- ICO registration
- Z3611656
- ID they ask for
- Police Scotland asks for photographs, scans or photocopies of two official documents that between them confirm your date of birth and your current address - for example a passport, driving licence, birth certificate or utility bill. If you are applying for someone else it also asks for written proof of authority: for solicitors a signed mandate, which its online form says must have been signed within the last six months, and for a parent applying for a child under 12, proof of identity for both of you and evidence of parental rights. Its form states that a child aged 12 or over should submit their own request. This is Police Scotland's own guidance rather than a statement of the law - the ICO's position is that identity checks must be reasonable and proportionate.
Source: Police Scotland published information. Organisations change these details — tell us if this is out of date.
The 9-month wait, the CHS criminal record box, and what goes elsewhere
Police Scotland's subject access page states that, because of unprecedented demand, the current wait for a request can be up to 9 months. It says it will still try to meet the statutory one calendar month deadline for straightforward requests, but that requests are otherwise dealt with in date order. It also asks people not to use the online form to chase an existing request, and says chase-up emails and letters will not be answered for the time being. That is the force describing its own backlog rather than an estimate, so plan around it. The one thing you control is scope. Police Scotland says the best way to get a quick response is to avoid broad, wide-ranging requests and instead describe the specific information you want, keeping it to the minimum you need. It asks for the type of contact you had - whether you reported something, or were a witness, a victim or an accused - the part of the country it happened in, and specific dates or at least a period. It says it cannot research vague requests for "all information", because policing in Scotland runs across a large number of separate systems. Around half of all subject access requests Police Scotland receives are from people who want a copy of their criminal record. If that is what you want, tick the "Your CHS criminal record" box on the online form. The Criminal History System record lists convictions and sentencing information, any police or fiscal warnings, and any pending cases - or confirms that you do not have one. CHS is the Scottish system. Information held on the Police National Computer is handled by ACRO rather than Police Scotland, and Police Scotland's own page says so. ACRO also issues police certificates for people emigrating or applying for a visa. If you need something for a job or a volunteering role, that is Disclosure Scotland, not a subject access request. Police Scotland points employment and volunteering enquiries there. Disclosure Scotland's products changed on 1 April 2025 - Level 1 and Level 2 disclosures replaced basic, standard and enhanced - so older guidance, including Police Scotland's own downloadable request form, still uses the previous names. Police Scotland's online form states that it must not be used to request information about other people or about someone who has died. You can apply on behalf of someone else only in limited circumstances - for your child if they are under 12, or for a client if you are a solicitor. Rights of access end at death, so a request about a person who has died is not a subject access request, and the GetMySAR form does not accept one. This route is for the right of access only. Rectification, erasure, restriction and objection to processing go through a separate form on Police Scotland's "Your Rights" page, not through the subject access form. If you cannot use the online form, Police Scotland's own request form says a completed paper form can be posted to the address above or handed in at any operational police office in Scotland. It also says you can call 101 and ask for the Information Management team in your local area for advice - 101 is the general non-emergency number, so that is a way to get help with a request, not a way to submit one. Police Scotland is the operating name of the Police Service of Scotland. The data controller is The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland, ICO registration Z3611656. The Scottish Police Authority is a separate controller with its own request route, responsible for Forensic Services and Independent Custody Visiting Scotland; its page states that it does not hold criminal conviction information, so a criminal record request goes to Police Scotland. The general mailbox DataProtection@scotland.pnn.police.uk is for data protection questions rather than for making a request - the address above is the one Police Scotland publishes for subject access. Police Scotland notes that exemptions may prevent disclosure where criminal proceedings, a complaint against the police, or a Police Investigations and Review Commissioner investigation are ongoing, and that it also has to protect the rights of third parties.
Making a request to a police force
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.
What people commonly ask for
- 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
Watch out for
- Section 45(4) DPA 2018 lets a force restrict access where disclosure would obstruct an inquiry, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, harm public security, or affect the rights and freedoms of other people. A restriction has to be necessary and proportionate for the specific information at issue — it is not a reason to refuse the request as a whole, and the ICO's guidance on restricting the right of access under Part 3 sets out the test a force is supposed to apply.
- Ongoing investigations are the most common ground for withholding. Records may become disclosable once proceedings conclude, and a force can tell you when it is worth asking again.
- A force can refuse to confirm or deny that it holds anything at all, where confirming would defeat the purpose of the restriction. That is a recognised answer rather than an administrative failure.
- Two exemptions sit alongside those restrictions: legal professional privilege — in Scotland, confidentiality of communications — which covers legal advice the force has taken, and safeguarding national security.
- If a force does withhold something, it must normally tell you within a month that it has done so and why, and tell you that you can complain to the force, complain to the ICO, or ask a court to enforce the right. Silence is not one of the options.
- Body-worn video and CCTV often contain other identifiable people, so expect redaction or blurring rather than full disclosure. And the right reaches your own personal data only — section 45 entitles you to personal data concerning you — so it is not a route to a recording of someone else, or to footage of an incident you had no part in.
- Records about someone who has died are not a subject access request — data protection rights end at death, and unlike health records there is no Access to Health Records Act equivalent for policing. ACRO points people to a Freedom of Information request to the force that dealt with the matter. That is a different law with different tests, and the duty of confidence survives death, so it is the right door rather than a guaranteed answer.
- It is a criminal offence under section 184 of the Data Protection Act 2018 for an employer, or for anyone providing goods, facilities or services to the public, to require you to obtain your own police record through a subject access request as a condition. Schedule 18 defines the records this covers by the bodies that hold them, and a record of a conviction or caution obtained from a chief constable is one of them. A job, a tenancy or an insurance policy made conditional on you producing your record this way is the offence, not a formality.
Your rights, whoever you are asking
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.
Send it to Police Scotland
You can do this yourself for free using the details above. If you would rather not handle the wording, the submission and the chasing, GetMySAR prepares, sends and follows up your request for a fixed £20 fee.
This page is general information about your right of access under UK data protection law. It is not legal advice. If your situation is complex or contested, consider speaking to a solicitor or contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office.