11948 Tasers
I write in connection with your request for information dated 15th May 2020 and received by this office on 18th May 2020. Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding, the team that record and hold the data have a backlog due to staffing issues. Below are the questions raised in your request and our response.
- How many times was a conducted energy device (e.g. Taser) deployed against children aged 11-17 and against those aged 0-11, during each month to date in 2018, 2019 and 2020, broken down by race, gender and age bracket – and of course by each month in question.
- How many times in each of these months, broken down by month, was Taser deployed after officers attended incidents at schools, colleges and universities?
- How many times was Taser deployed against adults during each month to date in 2018, 2019 and 2020, broken down by race, gender and age bracket – – and of course by each month in question.
- Please confirm the level of force used in each incident (arced, drive stun, aimed, drawn, fired, and red dotted) during each month to date in 2018, 2019 and 2020, broken down by race, gender and age bracket – and of course by each month in question.
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Cleveland Police when refusing such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption and (c) states (if it would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption(s) applies.
Notice of Non-Disclosure:
I am not disclosing the above requested information pursuant to the exemption provisions of Section 21(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Section 21 of the Act (Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means) states that information is exempt information if it is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section 21 is an absolute exemption and where information falls within the scope of an absolute exemption, a public authority is not obliged to communicate it to an applicant and is also not obliged to comply with the duty to confirm or deny the existence of the information requested.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter represents a Refusal Notice for this particular request.
The information requested is available via the below link.
The data on the force website in excel format and in the Incident data tab will be from ‘CM’ for Taser and from ‘IT’ for subject details
Please note any statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The APP College of Policing guidance states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced.
Once again please accept our apologies for the delay, however due to current circumstances delays have been unavoidable we apologise for any inconvenience it may have caused. If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact this office.