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Website Privacy Policy

This policy covers the processing of personal information (including cookies) on this website. 

Under privacy legislation (Data Protection Act 2018, General Data Protection Regulation and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) there is a legal requirement to notify you what personal data we collect about you when you use the Avon and Somerset Constabulary website.

Our Privacy Notice contains full details about how your personal data is processed.

Data collection

We only collect:

  • data you submit within a form
  • information on how you use the site

We collect this data to help us administer your query and respond to any request you send us.

We may process this data for those legitimate interests.

If you have consented to the use of any data provided by you, then we will rely on that consent.

Cookies

Avon and Somerset Police’s website puts small files (known as “cookies”) onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the site.

We use cookies to:

  • effectively manage our website, including measuring website usage
  • process online payments
  • maintain data between pages

First party cookies

  • Name: __RequestVerificationToken
    • Purpose: Prevents bots from submitting forms
    • Expires: When you close your browser
  • Name: formation.client
    • Purpose: Maintains data between pages
    • Expires: 120 minutes
  • Name: AWSELB
    • Purpose: Cookie to direct your requests to an available server
    • Expires: 20 minutes
  • Name: ac-enabled
    • Purpose: Display a cookie law notice to new users of the website
    • Expires: 1 year
  • Name: aspTNWAuthCookie
    • Purpose: Allows users with accounts to log in to our website
    • Expires: When you close your browser

Third party cookies

We use third party cookies to improve our online services. These cookies enable us to gather information about users who access our site and what actions they take. They also allow us to obtain feedback from users and work with partners to provide the best possible service.

Google Analytics sets the following cookies:

  • Name: _ga
    • Purpose: This helps us count how many people visit our website by tracking if you’ve visited before
    • Expires: 2 years
  • Name: _gid
    • Purpose: This helps us count how many people visit our website by tracking if you’ve visited before
    • Expires: 24 hours
  • Name: _gat
    • Purpose: Used to manage the rate at which page view requests are made
    • Expires: 10 minutes
  • Name: _ga_<container-id>
    • Purpose: This helps us count how many people visit our website by tracking if you’ve visited before
    • Expires: 2 years

You can choose to opt-in or opt-out of Google Analytics cookies at any time.

Third party providers

We use a number of third party providers to give you the best experience when submitting your information via our website.

Ideal Postcodes

We use Ideal Postcodes to verify the address you enter.

Ideal Postcodes will collect your IP address and browser data, and your postcode details will be stored in their server logs for up to 28 days.

Further information

Google Analytics

Google Analytics collects and stores information on your behaviour on the site about:

  • the pages you visit
  • how long you spend on each page
  • how you got to the site
  • what you click on while you’re visiting the site

We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data.

Google Maps

We use Google Maps to obtain accurate mapping information, allowing users to lookup locations.

Google Maps provide us with address details and co-ordinates when a form is submitted. We only see the final submitted information.

Further information

Stripe

We use Stripe to process payments on our behalf. They act as an independent payments processor where online payment is required to complete the form.

Stripe has full access to the billing information provided including your card number, card expiry date and CVC code.

We can see a redacted version of this information in the Stripe admin dashboard for debugging and management purposes.

Further information

Wufoo

We use Wufoo to receive feedback on web pages and forms.

Your information submitted in a Wufoo form is stored on Wufoo’s servers. Avon and Somerset Constabulary download the data, remove any personally identifiable information and delete the original data from Wufoo’s servers on a monthly basis.

Further information

Twilio

We use Twilio to send text messages, email and voice messages. 

If you have signed up to receive voice and text messages or emails from us, they will be routed through the Twilio service.

We take steps to anonymise the data sent to Twilio as much as possible and only share the phone number where messages are to be sent to. Once the message has been sent the phone number is removed.

Further information

Where your data is stored

We store your data on secure servers in the UK. The servers and infrastructure are provided by Amazon Web Services or Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

We retain any data we collect in accordance with our Privacy Notice.

Keeping your data secure

Transmitting information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your data.

Any data you transmit is at your own risk.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary treats all information submitted by users in confidence.

Sharing your data

If you choose to share your data, we will process and use it internally accordingly.

We may share the information provided with other police forces, government departments, agencies and organisations. Full details can be found in our Privacy Notice.

We use an independent market research company called SMSR to carry out regular telephone surveys in order to help us understand how you feel about your experience of the services we provided when you needed our help.

Visit the Telephone Survey page for more details.

Other than those listed above, we will not share your information submitted on the Avon and Somerset Constabulary website with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we do not pass on your details to other websites.

Embedded content from other websites

Pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Your rights

Information regarding your privacy rights can be found in our Privacy Notice.

Contact details

The data controller for data we collect is the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

Should you wish to contact us about anything in this policy use the contact details:

Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Telephone: 101
Post:
Chief Constable
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Police Headquarters
PO Box 37
Valley Road
Portishead, Near Bristol
BS20 8QJ

Data Protection Officer

Telephone: 101
Email: dataprotection@avonandsomerset.police.uk
Post:
The Data Protection Officer
Legal Services
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Police Headquarters
PO Box 37
Valley Road
Portishead, Near Bristol
BS20 8QJ

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