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:
- The number of crimes recorded where the suspect was 65 years old or above (please state the age) with a breakdown of the type of crime and the MO where possible, for each of the following financial years: 2018/19, 2017/18, 2016/17, 2015/16 and 2014/15.
- The number of crimes recorded where the suspect was 17 years old or younger (please state the age) with a breakdown of the type of crime and the MO where possible, for each of the following financial years: 2018/19, 2017/18, 2016/17, 2015/16 and 2014/15.
In Response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police, however cannot be disclosed for the following reasons.
The information requested is not held in a format that allows its extraction within the permitted 18 hour threshold. For the 2018/19 period for the over 65s alone there were 1880 recorded crimes. To locate and extract the details requested, specifically of the MO, would far exceed the 18 hour threshold. Even at a conservative estimate of 3 minutes per record, which we have considered as reasonable, we have estimated that to locate, extract and compile this information would take over 90 hours for that time period and part of the request alone. As we have estimated that part alone to take over the prescribed time, Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act would apply. This section does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimated that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit of 18 hours, equating to £450.00.
You should consider this to be a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Act for your request.
As part of your request would exceed the prescribed limit, as defined by the Act, there is no requirement for Northumbria Police to provide a response to the remaining parts of your request. However, in order to provide you with some assistance, under Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, an initial assessment of the information that may be provided within the time constraints would be the questions outlined above with MO part removed. This would be provided in age grouping only – ie 65 - 69, 70 – 74 etc.
If this would be useful, you may wish to refine and resubmit your request accordingly.
