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 tell me the number of recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act (Home Office recording code 71/17) recorded between October 4 2017 and April 2 2018.
2. Where possible I would like to know the age and gender of the victim, broken down into age groups: 11 and under, 12-15, 16 and over.
3. Please tell me the age and gender of the youngest victim.
4. Please tell me all the forms of communication (eg. text message, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik etc.) that have been recorded as having been used in connection with recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 between October 4 2017 and April 2 2018, and the number of times each method was recorded.
If any part of the request proves too time-consuming, I would prefer for you to:
(a) Just answer 1, 2 and 3; or
(b) Just answer question 1
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.
Data was collated through a search of all crimes created between 04/10/17 and 02/04/18 recorded under Home Office code 71/17 - Engage in sexual communication with a child.
These have been broken down by victim age group and gender. There are 4 occasions where the victim was unknown or not the intended recipient of the message(s). In these circumstances I have included the age and gender of the intended recipient or who the offender believed the recipient was.
I have included all forms of communication in the third table. In certain cases, communication was on more than one platform and therefore the total number of times each platform has been used is greater than the total number of crimes. There is one crime where the method of communication is unknown.
(Please note, the information at questions 2 and 3, has been supplied in such a way to avoid exemptions being applied, namely Section 40 – Personal Information.)
With the above in mind, I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
1. 39
2.
|
Age Group |
Female |
Male |
|
11 and under |
11 |
0 |
|
12 to 15 |
26 |
2 |
|
16 and Over |
0 |
0 |
3.
|
Age Group |
Female |
|
11 and under |
1 |
4.
|
|
17 |
|
|
8 |
|
Snapchat |
6 |
|
Text |
3 |
|
|
2 |
|
|
1 |
|
Roblox |
1 |
|
Playstation |
1 |
|
Musical.ly |
1 |
|
Meet4u |
1 |
|
Discord |
1 |
