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. Please provide the number of arrests made under the Psychoactive Substances Act since May 2016, broken down by month and by the offence suspected of being committed. This information should be available by conducting a search of the NSPIS for CJS codes that begin with ‘PS160’.
2. Please also provide the number of these arrests where nitrous oxide was the substance in question. This information should be available by searching the above records for the following terms:
Laughing gas
Nitrous oxide
NOS
NO2
Canisters
Gas canisters
Balloons
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 with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.
As you did not provide an end date, we take it that you wanted the information up to March 2018.
Data has been collated through a search of all arrests between 01/05/2016 and 31/03/2018 for the following offences;
Produce a psychoactive substance.
Supply a psychoactive substance.
Offer to supply a psychoactive substance.
Possess a psychoactive substance with intent to supply.
Import a psychoactive substance.
Export a psychoactive substance.
Possess a psychoactive substance in a custodial institution.
Each incident and crime (where possible), associated with the arrest has been reviewed for the key words provided in the request. Please note that in many cases the type of drug is not confirmed in the incident log or on the crime screens.
With the above in mind, I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
1.
|
Month/Year |
Possess a psychoactive substance with intent to supply |
Supply a psychoactive substance |
|
Jan-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Feb-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Mar-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Apr-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
May-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Jun-16 |
1 |
6 |
|
Jul-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Aug-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Sep-16 |
0 |
0 |
|
Oct-16 |
2 |
0 |
|
Nov-16 |
6 |
3 |
|
Dec-16 |
1 |
0 |
|
Jan-17 |
1 |
0 |
|
Feb-17 |
0 |
2 |
|
Mar-17 |
1 |
1 |
|
Apr-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
May-17 |
0 |
3 |
|
Jun-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Jul-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Aug-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Sep-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Oct-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Nov-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Dec-17 |
0 |
0 |
|
Jan-18 |
0 |
0 |
|
Feb-18 |
0 |
0 |
|
Mar-18 |
0 |
1 |
