FOI 429/25 Arrests
Enquiry Reference: 429- 25
I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Below is your request and our response.
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I kindly request the following information regarding arrests made by your police force from 1 January 2015 to the present date, specifically. The total number of arrests made under:
- Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988; Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 A detailed breakdown of these arrests, specifying:
- How many were related to domestic abuse.
- How many were related to offensive or abusive posts on social media.
- How many were related to any other reasons (please specify).
Please provide this information broken down annually.
Answer
The below table shows the number of arrests whereby any of the CJS codes that fall under the Malicious Communications Act 1998 and/or Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 broken down by year. We are only able to provide arrests from 2021.
|
Year |
Count |
|
2021 |
103 |
|
2022 |
95 |
|
2023 |
99 |
|
2024 |
48 |
|
2025 |
9 |
|
Grand Total |
354 |
How many were related to domestic abuse:
Below table are the same arrests where the domestic qualifier is on the record:
|
2021 |
60 |
|
2022 |
44 |
|
2023 |
42 |
|
2024 |
7 |
|
2025 |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
155 |
How many were related to offensive or abusive posts on social media:
We are unable to identify if the offences are specifically related to posts on social media, but we have a ‘cyber enabled’ flag that highlights any records that are cyber related:
|
Year |
Count |
|
2021 |
31 |
|
2022 |
26 |
|
2023 |
34 |
|
2024 |
14 |
|
2025 |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
107 |
How many were related to any other reasons (please specify).
The first table below shows the number of arrests where it was domestic related and cyber enabled, the second table shows the arrest reasons broken down by year:
|
Year |
Count |
|
2021 |
21 |
|
2022 |
18 |
|
2023 |
22 |
|
2024 |
4 |
|
Grand Total |
65 |
Arrest reasons:
|
Year |
Count |
|
2021 |
103 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) |
41 |
|
Send false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety (recordable) |
33 |
|
Send by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
11 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying indecent / offensive message (recordable) |
9 |
|
Persistently make use of public communication network to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
5 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
2 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network a false message to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
1 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying false information (recordable) |
1 |
|
2022 |
95 |
|
Send false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety (recordable) |
29 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) |
29 |
|
Send by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
21 |
|
Persistently make use of public communication network to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
9 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying indecent / offensive message (recordable) |
4 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying false information (recordable) |
1 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
1 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network a false message to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
1 |
|
2023 |
99 |
|
Send false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety (recordable) |
42 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) |
24 |
|
Send by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
22 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying indecent / offensive message (recordable) |
8 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network a false message to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
2 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
1 |
|
2024 |
48 |
|
Persistently make use of public communication network to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
21 |
|
Send by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
11 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying indecent / offensive message (recordable) |
7 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) |
4 |
|
Send false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety (recordable) |
3 |
|
Cause to be sent by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
2 |
|
2025 |
9 |
|
Send by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter (recordable) |
4 |
|
Persistently make use of public communication network to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) |
3 |
|
Send letter / communication / article conveying indecent / offensive message (recordable) |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
354 |
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.
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