23 August 2018
Dear Mark
I refer to your complaint to the Ombudsman in which you note that Police
response letters of 19 March and 18 April 2018 were not provided to you in an
accessible format. You note that our PDF is an image-based PDF which is not
text-searchable and which screen reader software cannot process. You also ask
whether there are restrictions on publication or copyright issues in relation to
material that Police release under an OIA.
It is our standard process to provide documents as a scanned version as this is
required to protect the information that we release. However, we have begun to
research ways in which we could provide scanned documents in text-searchable
format. We have found that
Adobe Pro may allow documents to be made text-
searchable and consequently we now provide the two letters to you in this format.
Unfortunately, this approach has some limitations so we are doing more work
around this practice to ensure that when it is requested, practical and possible we
can provide material that is in a searchable format.
As to the use of information provided, Police ask that requesters attribute
information received to Police as a courtesy where it is to be published. Further,
where Police must release information that is out-of-date or incomplete, Police
may ask the requester to include a statement noting these limitations if the
information is to be published.
The majority of information released by Police may be published freely and, in
fact, Police themselves proactively publish material. However, given the wide
variety of information that is released under the OIA, we are not able to provide a
standard set of restrictions or rules regarding publication. For example, released
information may include material in which another party holds copyright or the
material may attract Crown copyright. If you have queries in relation to a
particular document you are welcome to contact us and we will assist if possible.
Yours sincerely
Holly Foxwell Ministerial Services Officer
Ministerial Services