11800 Social Media Crime

I write in connection with your request for information dated 2^nd March 2020 and received by this office on 3^rd March 2020. Please accept our apologies for the late response due to staffing issues in the department that records and holds the requested information, your patience is appreciated.  Below are the questions raised in your request and our response.

1. How many complaints about crimes related to social media have been reported in the last three years? Please could you provide a breakdown of the type of crime.
2. a) We have supplied figures for the requested crimes relating to social media where the words ‘Twitter’, ‘Facebook’, ‘Instagram’, ‘Snapchat’, ‘TikTok’ or ‘Youtube’ have appeared in the MO comments field.  Further to searching the aforementioned media sites as spelt in the initial request, the searches also include “You Tube” and “Tik Tok” as these can sometimes be recorded with spaces.

Type of Crime	2017	2018	2019	Grand Total
105A - Assault Without Injury	17	9	11	37
10C - Possession of Other Weapons	1			1
11A - Cruelty to Children/Young Persons			2	2
17B - Sexual Assault on a Male Child under 13		1		1
19C - Rape of a Female aged 16 and over	4	1	2	7
19D - Rape of a Female Child under 16	1	3	2	6
19E - Rape of a Female Child under 13		2	1	3
19G - Rape of a Male Child under 16		1		1
20A - Sexual Assault on Female aged 13 and over	4	1	4	9
20B - Sexual Assault on Female Child under 13		1		1
21 - Sexual Activity involving a Child under 13	15	32	32	79
22A - Causing Sexual Activity without Consent		1	2	3
22B - Sexual Activity involving a Child under 16	34	34	41	109
28E - Burglary Residential / Attempted Burglary Residential / Distraction Burglary residential/Attempted Distraction Burglary Residential	2	3	1	6
29A - Aggravated Burglary residential			1	1
34B - Robbery of Personal Property	1	1	2	4
35 - Blackmail	12	22	23	57
39 - Theft from the Person	2	2	1	5
3B - Threats To Kill	3	5	3	11
40 - Theft in a Dwelling other than from an Automatic Machine or Meter	2	3	2	7
41 - Theft by an Employee	2			2
44 - Theft or Unauthorised Taking of a Pedal Cycle	6	2	2	10
45 - Theft from a Vehicle		2		2
46 - Shoplifting	1		2	3
48 - Theft or Unauthorised Taking of a Motor Vehicle		7	4	11
49 - Other Theft	5	11	10	26
54 - Handling Stolen Goods	5		2	7
58A - Criminal Damage to a Dwelling	2	2	5	9
58B - Criminal Damage to a Building other than a Dwelling	1			1
58C - Criminal Damage to a Vehicle	1	3		4
58D - Other Criminal Damage	3		1	4
59 - Threat or Possession with Intent to Commit Criminal Damage	4	13	10	27
5D - Assault with Intent to cause Serious Harm	1	2		3
61 - Other Forgery		1	1	2
66 - Other Offences against the State and Public Order	31	32	31	94
70 - Sexual Activity etc. with a Person with a Mental Disorder		1		1
73 - Abuse of Position of Trust of a Sexual Nature		1		1
79 - Perverting The Course Of Justice	2	6	2	10
86 - Obscene Publications, etc. and Protected Sexual Material	68	85	94	247
88A - Sexual Grooming	37	50	62	149
88E - Exposure and Voyeurism		3	2	5
8L - Harassment	177	291	502	970
8M - Racially or Religiously Aggravated Harassment		1	1	2
8N - Assault with Injury	16	16	9	41
8Q - Stalking	4	13	13	30
8R - Malicious Communications	259	604	741	1604
92A - Trafficking in Controlled Drugs	1			1
99 - Other Notifiable Offences	1		1	2
9A - Public Fear Alarm or Distress	21	35	9	65
9B - Racially or Religiously Aggravated Public Fear Alarm or Distress	7	1	1	9
NFIB13 - Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) Fraud			1	1
NFIB1D - Dating Scam			2	2
NFIB1H - Other Advance Fee Frauds			1	1
NFIB3A - Online Shopping and Auctions	4	7	2	13
NFIB3G - Retail Fraud (not NFIB3A or NFIB5A)		2		2
NFIB5A - Cheque, Plastic Card and Online Bank Accounts (not PSP)	1	3	2	6
NFIB6B - Insurance Broker Fraud	1			1
NFIB90 - Other Fraud (Not covered elsewhere)	4	7	3	14
NK - Unknown offence group.	1	4	6	11
Grand Total	764	1327	1652	3743

2. How many times have officers been called out to deal with a social media related crime in the last three years? Please could you provide a breakdown of the type of crime.
3. a) There is no consistent way of identifying when officers have been deployed to attend a media-related crime. 
4. How many people have been charged for a social media related crime in the last three years?
5. a) The below shows how many people have been charged for a social media related crime by year, where the person charged indicator is positive and where the above social media is included in the MO comment field:

Year	Number of Charged
2017	78
2018	65
2019	48
Grand Total	191

4. How many drink spiking cases have been recorded in the last three years?
5. a) The below table shows the total number of recorded incidents where 'spike', 'spiking',

'drink-spike', 'drink spiked', 'spiked drink' has appeared in the MO comments.

Row Labels Drink Spiking

Row Labels	Drink Spiking
2017	9
2018	10
2019	16
Grand Total	35

Please note, social media includes: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.

Please could you provide a year by year breakdown of the information, for the last three years, up to the date of this request.  

 

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.

We have made every effort to ensure a response was provided within statutory deadlines, however due to current circumstances delays have been unavoidable.  If your response was late 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.