The RSPCA again...................surely beyond the remit of a charity?

perdix

Well-Known Member
Many of you will have seen in the media this week (and in today'sTelegraph) the serious revelations about an agreement between ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) and the RSPCA, which allows the RSPCA to access information held on the Police National Computer (PNC). The PNC holds large amounts of information about people who have been convicted, cautioned or arrested but also holds information on vehicles, the registered keeper of a vehicle and firearms licensing.
Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of an RSPCA investigation will be all too aware of the close relationship between RSPCA officers and the police and we believe the agreement between ACRO and the RSPCA is merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the types of information the RSPCA can access. We have sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all police forces in England and Wales asking if there is a force level Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) with the RSPCA. We found that out of the 39 police forces in England and Wales that responded to the FOI, 10 have formal ISAs with the Society.


It seems that the agreements vary in terms of the information shared, but some include exchanging intelligence, joint operational activity and information held on the National Firearms Licensing Management System and vehicles. This rebuts ACPO attempts to play down the type of information the RSPCA receives as it put in its statement 'indirect access does not include firearms licensing, vehicle registrations (which are held on other systems to the PNC) or any information that the RSPCA does not need in order to prosecute a case at court.'


I have written to the Information Commissioner who deals with issues of information sharing, making it clear that I believe there is no legal basis for agreements between ACRO, the police and the RSCPA. The RSPCA is neither a public body, nor a statutory prosecutor and I am unaware of any primary legislation naming the RSPCA which allows for data sharing for purposes of criminal investigation and prosecution. It is sinister that a campaigning charity, which has shown itself to have a clear and politicised animal rights agenda, increasingly used against members of our community, has access to such information. This access could pose serious risks to individuals about whom information is gathered and we await urgent advice from the Information Commissioner.

 
Very well done, I await an update ruling that such ISA's are illegal and must be stopped forthwith and any information received so either returned or destroyed, this being overseen by an independent body. I think I have more chance of bumping in to Santa on August bank holiday.

I really do wish you all the best with this, and would like to thank you for your effort thus far.

John
 
Written to my MP asking him to raise the matter with the minister and also the Crime Commissioner with a view to discipling/dismissing our Chief Constable. Same request but a different letter to four AM (Assembly Members in the devolved assembly). One AM written back to say he had asked for an opinion on the legality of this as the RSPCA is not a statutory body entitled to this information.

Please everybody make a fuss it may not work but doing nothing will certainly not work.

David.
 
It's okay asking for any data that the RSPCA has, to be destroyed, but I beloeve that there is little chance of that happening now.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, they will be busy gathering any and all information that they can get hold of, and storing it in multiple ways/locations, possibly with some, if not most of those places only being recorded in someones head, so that nobody will be able to find a record of the records!
 
I am going to make anyone & everyone I can, aware of these people's misuse of the kind donations they are gifted, & try to redirect anyone I can towards the PDSA.
 
Utter lunacy!
Have written to my MP too.
IMO, If this goes ahead, the information will be in the Public Domain within weeks and probably circulated around the anti's for a fee?


Also sent emails to chief constable and Police and Crime Commissioner.
 
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is't funny that some time ago a member on the sd was told by essex that as per the rspca his request was overkill !! and not allowed if i remember correcly!! hmm i look farward to the outcome if its published :norty:
 
Very well done, I await an update ruling that such ISA's are illegal and must be stopped forthwith and any information received so either returned or destroyed, this being overseen by an independent body. I think I have more chance of bumping in to Santa on August bank holiday.

I really do wish you all the best with this, and would like to thank you for your effort thus far.

John

Sorry John I should have made it clear when i posted this that it is from the CA weekly news e-mail and not me :oops:
I too have written to my MSP to voice my concerns regarding this sort of info being available to a "charity" and I will be contacting the charities commision to see if this is yet another nail in the RSPCAs coffin.
Sorry again for thr initial misleading post.I was so wound up that I had to share quickly and should have edited it to suit
 
I would like a copy if possible as well please, I have for a long time not been happy with the RSPCA and the way they go about things and this about tops it off, Its about time it was stripped of its "Royal" and "Charity" status, I cannot understand why people leave this organisation millions of pounds every year to see them waste it on failed court cases and the like and yes once they have the information they have it.
 
Here is a link to the original article which sparked this off.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/30/rspca_runs_wild_with_police_national_computer/

As we have become accustomed to here, the story has a lot of half truths and uses emotive language in order to make it a better read. I am in no way attempting to defend the RSPCA who in my opinion have shown themselves to be as such that they will never get another penny from me. Like others on here I supported them since my schooldays which were many dacades ago.
Some of the information referred to in the article could be obtained by either you or I if certain criteria are fulfilled.
The article is also clearly wrong when it mentions the lack of Auditing within the police organization with regards to the system checks which are carried.
I fully support invoking your local MP to highlight the "workings" of the RSPCA but when doing so WE must ensure that allegations or complaints we make are indeed genuine and accurate.
 
The article I quoted was from the Countryside Alliance e-route e-mail that members get weekly.
My letter will be along the lines of:

Dear Sir/Madam,

My attention has been drawn to an article published by the Countryside Alliance which raises some concerns regarding the privacy and security of firearms/shotgun certificate holders.
*copy and paste the initial post*
As I have already passed the necessary clearance to be granted a certificate by my local constabulary I fail to see the purpose giving my personal details to the RSPCA especially as as far as I'm aware they are an animal welfare charity and not a law enforcement agency.I also have fears that such information will,at some stage,be leaked to those amongst the less law abiding animal rights movements,so making myself,my vehicle and even my home and family potential targets for threats and attacks.
I am very concerned about this matter and I feel that the RSPCA are not acting within the boundaries of a charitable organisation and that they are becoming ever more a political movement.As such I feel that the Charities Commision should look into their activities.
I would,therefore,ask you as my representative in parliament to look into this matter with the utmost urgency,
Yours faithfully

Now this is a very rough draft and should be shuffled and reworded to suit but the basic gist is there.
BTW I was never very good at English while at school so please correct any grammar and punctuation mistakes too.
 
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If the RSPCA persist in posturing as a public authority they should freely adopt the requirements to furnish information under FOI. What have they got to hide?
 
I have been told by an inspector I caught checking my fox snares that they are the animal police!I pointed out that he was merely a charity worker,his uniform held about as much worth to me as a Sally Army one and then escorted him 2 fields back to a public footpath.Bless his little cotton socks
 
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