Law enforcement guidelines

In short. We want to help return stolen property and keep people safe, and we also have a duty to protect our users' privacy. We disclose user data only when the law allows or requires it, and we look at every request individually. Send requests to legal@regimate.app.

These guidelines are for law enforcement agencies and other public authorities. They aren't legal advice and don't create any rights. If you're a Regimate user whose item has been stolen, report it to the police, mark it stolen in the app and add the crime reference number to the item.

1. What we may hold

• Accounts: name, email address, Member ID (RMU-…), optional profile details, sign-in history with IP addresses and devices, and account creation date.
• Items: descriptions, serial numbers and IMEIs, photos, proof-of-ownership documents, status history, lost or stolen reports and any crime reference number, and ownership transfers. Each item has a Regimate ID (RM-…) and may have a tag (RT-…).
• Finder conversations: messages, any first name, photo, location or email address a finder chose to give, and the IP address that started the conversation.
• Premises: property details (RP-…), keyholders, and incident reports including the reporter's name, contact details and IP address.
• Enterprise and Finder API: organisation and asset records, and records of Finder API lookups, which store a hash of the identifier rather than the identifier itself.

We delete or clear much of this automatically. For example, finder IP addresses are cleared after 12 months and conversations are deleted after two years. See the retention table in our Privacy policy.

2. What we don't hold

• We don't track items or people. Regimate tags and labels don't contain GPS or transmit their location. We only hold locations an owner enters or a finder chooses to share.
• We don't hold payment card details; these are held by our payment provider.
• We can't read data that's deleted or past its retention period.

3. Making a request

Please send requests from an official email address to legal@regimate.app, and include:

• your name, rank or role, agency and contact details;
• the identifiers concerned, such as a Regimate ID, Member ID, Property ID, tag code, serial number, IMEI or email address;
• the specific information you're asking for, and the time period;
• the legal basis for the request, for example a court order, a production order, or a request under Schedule 2, Part 1, paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 explaining why the information is necessary for the prevention or detection of crime and how not disclosing it would prejudice that;
• a reference number.

We'll consider voluntary requests under the Data Protection Act 2018 on their merits, disclosing only what's necessary and proportionate. Requests for message content will normally need a court order or equivalent legal process.

4. Emergencies

If there's an imminent risk of death or serious injury, put EMERGENCY in the subject line and explain the risk. We'll prioritise the request and may disclose information without legal process where the law allows.

5. Preservation

We can preserve specific records for 90 days while you obtain formal legal process, and extend that once on request. Please tell us which records and why.

6. Telling our users

Our policy is to tell users about requests for their data before we disclose it, so they can seek advice. We won't if the law prohibits it, if it would put someone at risk, or if it would clearly prejudice an investigation. Tell us in your request if you believe notice would be harmful.

7. Authorities outside the UK

Regimate is operated from England and Wales. Authorities in other countries should use the applicable mutual legal assistance process or international agreement, or contact us to discuss the right route.

8. Checking an item

Anyone, including police officers, can check whether an item is registered by searching its Regimate ID, serial number or IMEI at my.regimate.app/search, and message the owner anonymously from the item's page. For forces and organisations that need to check items regularly, contact sales@regimate.app about the Finder API.