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:
I am interested to find out how many ‘revenge porn’ cases involving children were investigated by your force over the relevant period.
For each case, please provide the age of the suspect, the offence type (including any additional detail on the incident) and also the outcome of the case (e.g. police caution or Outcome 21).
Please provide this data for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 up to 20 August 2019.
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 follows.
Please note that this information has been collated by searching for offence of “Disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress”, each record has then been manually reviewed to see if it relates to revenge porn.
|
Year |
Age of suspect |
Outcome |
Summary |
|
2017 |
17 |
Victim does not support police action |
Named person post sexual photo of victim on social media causing distress to victim |
|
2018 |
12 |
Evidential Difficulties |
Offender posts photo of IP in underwear on social media to other friends without the IP’s permission causing distress |
|
2018 |
16 |
Evidential Difficulties |
Offender shares explicit image of victim on snapchat without permission |
|
2019 |
16 |
Evidential Difficulties |
Named person post sexual photo of victim on snapchat causing distress to victim |
|
2019 |
15 |
Evidential Difficulties |
Known offender uploads video of victim on to social media without consent |
|
2019 |
16 |
Victim does not support police action |
Offender obtains semi naked photographs of IP from their mobile phone then distributes to friends via snap chat |
|
2019 |
15 |
Evidential Difficulties |
Offender sends photograph of IP in underwear on social media to other friends without the IP’s permission |
Northumbria Police can neither confirm nor deny that it holds any further information relevant to you request by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 23(5) Information supplied by or concerning certain Security Bodies
Section 30(3) Investigations
Sections 23 is a class based absolute exemption and there is no requirement to consider the public interest test in this area.
Section 30 is a class based qualified exemption and consideration must be given as to whether there is a public interest in neither confirming nor denying the information exists is the appropriate response.
Harm
Factors favouring confirming or denying that information is held Section 30
The Police Service is charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the communities we serve and there is a public interest in the transparency of policing operations.
Modern-day policing is intelligence led and the Police Service share information with other law enforcement agencies as part of the intelligence gathering process. Irrespective of whether information is or isn’t held, the Police Service will never confirm any detail(s) which could undermine the partnership approach of information sharing or any investigation.
Balancing Test
Public safety is of paramount importance and the Police Service will not divulge whether information is or isn’t held if to do so would place the safety of an individual at risk or undermine National Security. Therefore, at this moment in time, it is our opinion that for these issues the balancing test for disclosure is not made out.
No inference can be taken from this refusal that any further information relevant to your request does or does not exist.
