FOI 495-24 Drink & Drug Driving

Enquiry Reference: 4 95 - 24                                                                        

 

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request.  Below is your request and our response.

 

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

My request relates to your forces’ arrest figures for drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol

I would like to request the following information:

The number of drink driving arrests

The number of drug driving arrests

Please can you provide the numbers broken down year-by-year, featuring monthly data for those years. Up to 30 March 2024, including 2024 data, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

If possible, please also indicate which drug was present in the bloodstream for each drug driving arrest .

The below table shows the number of arrests for alcohol and drugs between 01/01/2019 and 30/03/2024.  The below includes those arrests where the arrest reason includes driver related drugs and/or alcohol categories and does not include failures to provide specimens for analysis.

 

Year/month	Alcohol	Drugs	Grand Total
2019	654	532	1186
Jan	46	39	85
Feb	36	51	87
Mar	60	59	119
Apr	57	54	111
May	70	52	122
Jun	60	39	99
Jul	52	33	85
Aug	57	37	94
Sep	59	48	107
Oct	40	40	80
Nov	63	42	105
Dec	54	38	92
2020	555	914	1469
Jan	62	50	112
Feb	58	51	109
Mar	45	50	95
Apr	33	90	123
May	35	109	144
Jun	40	74	114
Jul	58	85	143
Aug	50	75	125
Sep	47	65	112
Oct	41	70	111
Nov	48	89	137
Dec	38	106	144
2021	549	917	1466
Jan	32	101	133
Feb	27	75	102
Mar	42	92	134
Apr	44	94	138
May	50	87	137
Jun	47	74	121
Jul	48	45	93
Aug	60	67	127
Sep	49	52	101
Oct	52	76	128
Nov	42	75	117
Dec	56	79	135
2022	580	762	1342
Jan	48	82	130
Feb	52	90	142
Mar	51	73	124
Apr	60	69	129
May	47	62	109
Jun	37	52	89
Jul	56	51	107
Aug	47	43	90
Sep	45	61	106
Oct	39	59	98
Nov	45	64	109
Dec	53	56	109
2023	583	699	1282
Jan	34	50	84
Feb	51	60	111
Mar	35	76	111
Apr	56	74	130
May	67	65	132
Jun	39	57	96
Jul	51	43	94
Aug	56	51	107
Sep	54	64	118
Oct	33	55	88
Nov	35	49	84
Dec	72	55	127
2024	142	207	349
Jan	45	72	117
Feb	50	58	108
Mar	47	77	124
Grand Total	3063	4031	7094

 

 

If possible, please also indicate which drug was present in the bloodstream for each drug driving arrest .

 

The below table shows the above drug arrests whereby the category of the drug was identified.  Please note the only information available to me is drug wipe data that can only detect whether the drug was cannabis or cocaine.  All remaining drug arrests are listed as unknown:

 

Year/Month	Cannabis	Cocaine	Unknown	Grand Total
2019	157	168	207	532
Jan	10	12	17	39
Feb	17	22	12	51
Mar	19	18	22	59
Apr	25	16	13	54
May	20	14	18	52
Jun	13	12	14	39
Jul	5	13	15	33
Aug	10	17	10	37
Sep	13	14	21	48
Oct	7	12	21	40
Nov	9	8	25	42
Dec	9	10	19	38
2020	247	198	469	914
Jan	8	6	36	50
Feb	14	17	20	51
Mar	15	14	21	50
Apr	28	27	35	90
May	36	25	48	109
Jun	22	12	40	74
Jul	23	28	34	85
Aug	18	13	44	75
Sep	15	10	40	65
Oct	15	9	46	70
Nov	22	14	53	89
Dec	31	23	52	106
2021	168	139	610	917
Jan	24	16	61	101
Feb	18	12	45	75
Mar	27	21	44	92
Apr	19	16	59	94
May	15	15	57	87
Jun	14	3	57	74
Jul	10	2	33	45
Aug	7	9	51	67
Sep	4	8	40	52
Oct	10	14	52	76
Nov	12	13	50	75
Dec	8	10	61	79
2022	56	40	666	762
Jan	9	6	67	82
Feb	5	7	78	90
Mar	6	4	63	73
Apr	5	6	58	69
May	2	3	57	62
Jun		2	50	52
Jul		2	49	51
Aug	3		40	43
Sep	8	1	52	61
Oct	7	2	50	59
Nov	3	2	59	64
Dec	8	5	43	56
2023	65	66	568	699
Jan	8	4	38	50
Feb	7	9	44	60
Mar	13	5	58	76
Apr	9	6	59	74
May	5	9	51	65
Jun	6	11	40	57
Jul	3	3	37	43
Aug	5	4	42	51
Sep		6	58	64
Oct	2	4	49	55
Nov	3	3	43	49
Dec	4	2	49	55
2024	3	1	203	207
Jan	2		70	72
Feb			58	58
Mar	1	1	75	77
Grand Total	696	612	2723	4031

 

 

 

Please note that all 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 Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) 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. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Decision Maker