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. Between January 2020 up to and including December 2021, how many out-of-court settlements have been made?
2. For each settlement, please share a summary of the police wrongdoing e.g. wrongful arrest.
3. If it does not push this request over the cost limit, please also share the legal costs incurred.
After clarity was sought you advised
You would like to have information for all civil claims and that by ‘costs’ you meant cost to Northumbria Police.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Legal 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.
1. Between 1 January 2020 up to and including 31 December 2021 there have been 51 out of court settlements made.
2. In relation to each of the 51 out of court settlements, the summary of the claim is as follows;- (NOTE a claim can incorporate more than one head of damage)
16 claims for Negligence
10 claims for Personal Injury
2 claims for Unlawful Arrest
2 claims for Unlawful Detention
1 claim for Damage to Property
1 claim for Disposal of Vehicle
1 claim for Breach of Human Rights
1 claim for Breach of Data Protection
1 claim for Unlawful Arrest, False Imprisonment & Assault
1 claim for Misconduct in Public Office & Personal Injury
1 claim for Unlawful Arrest, Unlawful Detention, Assault & Malicious Prosecution
2 claims for Unlawful Arrest, Unlawful Detention, Assault & Trespass to Property
1 claim for Unlawful Detention & Assault
1 claim for Damage to Vehicle
2 claims for Unlawful Arrest & Unlawful Detention
1 claim for Breach of Human Rights & Misfeasance in Public Office
1 claim for Breach of Data Protection, Breach of Confidence & Misuse of Information
1 claim for Unlawful Arrest, Trespass & Assault
1 claim for False Imprisonment, Assault & Trespass to Goods
1 claim for Unlawful Arrest, Unlawful Detention, Assault & Breach of Article 5 ECHR
1 claim for Loss of Property
1 claim for Unlawful Arrest, Unlawful Detention, Assault & Trespass
1 claim for Unlawful Arrest, Unlawful Detention, Assault, Malicious Prosecution, Breach of Equality Act, Breach of Human Rights & Breach of Data Protection
3. The total amount of Northumbria Police’s legal costs incurred in relation to the 51 out of court settlements is £23,500.34
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
