We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This policy sets out the basis on which your personal data will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how it will be treated by us.
For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 (“the Act”) the data controller is Police Firearms Officers Association Ltd, The Old Police Station, 18 East Park Street, Chatteris, PE16 6LD (“We”).
All enquires concerning our use or storage of data should be sent to
Introduction and general terms
The Police Firearms Officers Association, and the people we seek to help, are dependent on the generosity of our supporters as well as the goodwill and trust of the public. We are therefore committed to protecting any personal information we obtain about you, whether you are just visiting our website or are a financial supporter, shopper, volunteer or campaigner. This Privacy Policy sets out how we obtain, use and protect any personal information you provide to us, whether online, via phone, text, email, in letters or in other correspondence.
This privacy policy explains the following:
- what information The Police Firearms Officers Association may collect about you;
- how The Police Firearms Officers Association will use information we collect about you;
- when The Police Firearms Officers Association may use your details to contact you;
- whether The Police Firearms Officers Association will disclose your details to anyone else;
- your choices regarding the personal information you provide to us;
- the use of cookies on The Police Firearms Officers Association website and how you can exercise your choices in relation to those cookies.
The Police Firearms Officers Association is committed to safeguarding your personal information. Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all laws concerning the protection of personal information, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy & Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
The Police Firearms Officers Association website contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including policies on their use of cookies, and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or which is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. We cannot accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.
Who we are
The Police Firearms Officers Association is a registered charity (charity number 1139247) and a company limited by guarantee (company number 07295737). The Police Firearms Officers Association’s registered address is Thomas Quinn, The Station House, 15 Station Road, St Ives, PE27 5BH.
What information will The Police Firearms Officers Association collect about me?
When you contact The Police Firearms Officers Association to join and become a member of the Association, make a donation, purchase an item online or you telephone, email, write to or text The Police Firearms Officers Association, or engage with The Police Firearms Officers Association via social media channels, we may receive and retain personal information about you. This can consist of information such as your name, email address, postal address, telephone or mobile number, bank account details to process donations and whether or not you are a tax payer so that we can claim Gift Aid.
By submitting your details, you enable The Police Firearms Officers Association to raise funds and to provide you with the goods, services, information, activities or online content you select.
We do not usually collect “sensitive personal data” about our members, e.g. health status, unless there is a clear reason for doing so – such as when a member has requested assistance from The Police Firearms Officers Association and we need this to ensure that we provide appropriate facilities or support to them. If you are simply browsing our website as an anonymous visitor, The Police Firearms Officers Association may still collect certain information from you, such as your IP addresses (an IP address is a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet).
The Police Firearms Officers Association also uses cookies. Cookies are small text files on your device. They are made by your web browser when you visit a website. Every time you go back to that website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server. They improve your experience of using a website, for example, by remembering your preference settings and by measuring your use of a website to ensure that it meets your needs. See Section 10 below for more detail on how we use cookies and how you can control your cookie preferences.
How will The Police Firearms Officers Association use the information you collect about me?
The Police Firearms Officers Association will use your personal information for a number of purposes including the following:
- in relation to any correspondence you have entered into with us whether by letter, email, text, social media or any other means;
- for “service administration purposes”, which means that The Police Firearms Officers Association may contact you for reasons related to donations you have made such as your tax status with regard to Gift Aid, the completion of commercial or other transactions you have entered into with The Police Firearms Officers Association or the activity or online content you have signed up for;
- for internal record keeping;
- to fulfil sales contracts you have entered into with The Police Firearms Officers Association;
- to contact you about any content you provide;
- to invite you to participate in surveys or research about The Police Firearms Officers Association or our work (participation is always voluntary);
- for marketing purposes where you have specifically consented to receive marketing communications from us (see below);
- to provide you with information about our activities or online content you have agreed to receive;
- to personalise the way The Police Firearms Officers Association content is presented to you;
to use IP addresses to identify the location of users, to block disruptive use, to establish the number of visits from different countries; - to analyse and improve the activities and content offered by The Police Firearms Officers Association website to provide you with the most user-friendly navigation experience. We may also use and disclose information in aggregate (so that no individuals are identified) for marketing and strategic development purposes.
Will I be contacted for marketing purposes?
The Police Firearms Officers Association will only contact you for marketing purposes where you have provided us with freely given consent to do so. You may provide that consent in various ways including through online or paper forms, or face to face though engagement with our Force Co-ordinators and fundraisers.
Please see the section below for information on how to change your communication preferences, including opting out of future marketing communications.
Will The Police Firearms Officers Association share my personal information with anyone else?
We will only use your information within The Police Firearms Officers Association for the purposes for which it was obtained. The Police Firearms Officers Association will not, under any circumstances, share or sell your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes and you will not receive offers from other companies or organisations as a result of giving your details to us.
We may need to share your information with “data processors” such as our service providers, associated organisations and agents who help us to prepare and send the materials relating to our projects and fundraising activities. These “data processors” will only act under our instruction and we will not allow these organisations to use your data for their own purposes and will take care to ensure that they keep your data secure.
We will also comply with legal requests where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies for tax purposes or law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime, subject to such bodies providing us with a relevant request in writing).
Offensive or inappropriate content placed on The Police Firearms Officers Association website
If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content to or anywhere on The Police Firearms Officers Association website or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any Police Firearms Officers Association service, we may use your personal information to stop such behaviour.
Where The Police Firearms Officers Association reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any of the laws of England and Wales (or the law of Scotland if you live there) (e.g. because content you have posted may be defamatory), we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your employer, internet provider or law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.
How long will The Police Firearms Officers Association keep my personal information?
We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, for example we will keep a record of donations for at least six years.
If you request that we stop sending you marketing materials we will keep a record of your contact details and appropriate information to enable us to comply with your request not to be contacted by us.
Legacy income is vital to the running of the charity. We may keep data you provide to us indefinitely, to carry out legacy administration and communicate effectively with the families of people leaving us legacies. This also enables us to identify and analyse the source of legacy income we receive.
Where you contribute material to us, e.g. user generated content or in response to a particular campaign we will generally only keep your content for as long as is reasonably required for the purpose(s) for which it was submitted unless otherwise stated at the point of generation.
What is The Police Firearms Officers Association policy on allowing me to update, correct, or delete my personal information?
The accuracy of your information is really important to us. We want to ensure that we are able to communicate with you in ways that you are happy with, and to provide you with information that is of interest. If you wish to change how we communicate with you, or update the information we hold, then please contact us:
Write to us: PFOA, The Old Police Station, 18 East Park Street, Chatteris, PE16 6LD
Email us:
Call us (Mon-Fri 0900-1700): 01354 697890
You may also opt out of marketing emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email from Police Firearms Officers Association.
Under the General Data Protection Regulations you have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (There is no charge for this and we require you to prove your identity with two pieces of approved identification).
Please address requests and questions about this or any other question about this Privacy Policy to the Data Protection Officer, PFOA, The Old Police Station, 18 East Park Street, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, PE16 6LD.
Cookies Policy – information The Police Firearms Officers Association collects from your computer or mobile device
What is a cookie?
Cookies are small text files on your device. They are made by your web-browser when you visit a website. Every time you go back to that website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device. You can find more information about cookies at: www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu. For a video about cookies visit http://www.google.co.uk/goodtoknow/data-on-the-web/cookies
Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience.
They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.
Why does The Police Firearms Officers Association use cookies?
Like many websites, The Police Firearms Officers Association uses cookies in order to provide you with a more personalised web service.
Cookies help us identify which bits of our website people are using, and help us do work on those sections of the website to improve the user experience. We also use cookies to help show content on our site which is relevant to you and your interests, for example if on a previous visit you went to our pages about emergencies or events, we might find this out from your cookie and show you other information on our website related to emergencies or events on subsequent visits.
Information supplied in cookies also allows us to measure the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns for The Police Firearms Officers Association. This enables us to ensure any money we spend on digital marketing gives us a good return on investment.
A list of the main cookies that we use and what each is used for, together with ways to control your cookie preferences can be found in our cookie policy.
Changes to The Police Firearms Officers Association Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to The Police Firearms Officers Association. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use The Police Firearms Officers Association website to submit personal information to The Police Firearms Officers Association. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the website.
Your rights
You have the right to request us not to use your details for the purpose of providing you with information about the goods and services provided by our group (other than information which you have specifically requested). You can also notify us by contacting us at
Police Firearms Officers Association
The Old Police Station,
18 East Park Street,
Chatteris , Cambridgeshire
PE16 6LD or
Our site may contain links to and from our partners’ and affiliates’ websites. If you follow a link to their sites, please note that these sites have their own privacy policy and that We do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these sites.
Access to information
The Act gives you various rights including the right to access information held about you. Your right to access can be exercised in accordance with the Act.
Questions about this privacy policy can be addressed to
