Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
- What were the reported homicide rates in your area between the 31st of October 2016 and the 31st of October 2021?
- What are the reported homicide rates in the same period in your area per 100000 people?
- What are the homicide clearance rates in the same period in your area?
- For each reported homicide, please specify the date when it was reported, the place where it took place(town/postcode), if solved, the date when it was cleared, the type of homicide ( murder/manslaughter) and if any case is a domestic homicide, infanticide or criminally negligent manslaughter.
- How many investigators are usually involved in the homicide investigation process?
- What is the homicide investigators' average length of service (as detectives) at the time of the homicide investigations in the period mentioned in the first question?
- What is the average salary of homicide investigators working for your police force?
- Are you working with external law enforcement agencies and specialised police units( for example, dog units, drug squad) when conducting a homicide investigation? If yes, please specify them.
- Are you working with an external or an internal forensics laboratory?
- Is your force police using forensic digital analysis data, such as database forensics, computer/mobile/network forensics, within the homicide investigation process? Please specify the types of forensics used.
- What is the average cost of the forensic laboratories' equipment such as analytical balances, moisture analysers, microscopes, spectrometers used in homicide investigations?
- What is the average number of forensic laboratories' staff working on homicide investigations in a year? ( either for the period mentioned in the first question or for the 31st of October 2020- the 31st of October 2021 period)
In Response:
1. 63.
2. No Information held – this information is not recorded.
3. 52 (some cases are still under investigation and are not included in this figure).
4. Please see attached document.
5. This information is not recorded - we can advise that it is not possible to give an accurate number, each case is assessed and the relevant resources are allocated to that case, the resource numbers fluctuate throughout the investigation.
6. This information is not recorded - we can advise that it resources to investigate a homicide are often drawn from resources across the Force and as such it is not possible to provide an average length of service.
7. No Information held – this information is not recorded.
8. There are a range of external law enforcement agencies and specialist police units employed during a homicide investigation. The following list is not designed to be a definitive list as each investigation is different often requiring different specialist resources, but examples are:
- NCA
- NABIS
- CPS
- Dog Section
- Licensed search officers
- Response Officers
- Neighbourhood Officers
- Analysts
- Researchers
- Digital Media Advisors
- Digital Media Investigators
- Home office Pathologist
- Voice analysis expert
- Image analysis expert
- CCTV unit
- Ballistics expert
9. Northumbria Police uses a mixed model of some internal forensic laboratory processing and outsourced forensic analysis via a commercial contractual arrangement.
10. Northumbria Police carries out digital forensic analysis on a range of digital devices. These include mobile phones, laptops and computers.
11. No Information held – this information is not recorded.
12. Northumbria Police employs a total of 34 Forensic Services staff across all laboratory functions in-force, these staff work on all investigations not just homicides. We do not hold information in regards to outsourced forensic laboratory staff.
