Offences at colleges - 249/20

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:

1. The number of drug offences reported at colleges under the force’s jurisdiction in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. If possible, could you also detail the types of offences.
2. The number of Modern Slavery Act offences reported at colleges under the force’s jurisdiction in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
3. The number of hate crime offences reported at colleges under the force’s jurisdiction in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. If possible, could you also detail the types of social identities targeted and the types of incidents.
4. The number of harassment offences reported at colleges  under the force’s jurisdiction in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. If possible, could you also detail the types of social identities targeted and the types of incidents.
5. The number of knife crime offences at colleges or from their staff, under the force’s jurisdiction in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. If possible, could you also detail the types of offences, including the number of people reported to be in possession of a knife, the number of knives seized on college campuses and the number of assaults or injuries reported on college grounds related to knives, in each of the years.

In Response:

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you as attached with the caveats below noted.

"Knife crime" has been defined as per the Home Office ADR160 return, which does notably include similar weapons to knives eg scissors

"Hate crime" may fall under multiple categories eg a crime can be both racially motivated and religiously motivated in nature

Demographic information is not always stated. Notably, religion is often not included.

This only includes crimes wherein the "Location" field states "College." If this field is incomplete, or incorrect, then crimes may be misattributed.

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would expect that you to take into consideration the factors highlighted above so as not to mislead members of the public or official bodies or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.