FOI 177/25 Football Match Report

Enquiry Reference:  FOI 177- 25                                                                 

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request, firstly please accept my apology for the delay.  Below is your request and our response.

Please email me a copy of the match commander's report for Middlesbrough v Stoke played in the League Cup in Middlesbrough on August 27, 2024.

Having made enquiries within the Force we do not have a match commander report we have a tactical plan on how to Police the fixture and will not disclose this and would rely on the following.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities.  Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held.  The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.  Where exemptions are relied upon, Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act requires that I provide the applicant with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) state (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Cleveland Police can confirm it holds the information relevant to your request as the duty in Section 1(1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply, by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 31(1)(a) & (b) Law Enforcement

Section 31 is a prejudiced based qualified exemption and there is a requirement for us to evidence harm in confirming or denying whether information is held and also to consider the public interest.

Factors favouring Disclosure:

The Police Service is charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the communities we serve and there is a public interest in the transparency of policing to ensure investigations, enquiries, etc. are dealt with appropriately.

Factors favouring Non-Disclosure:

Irrespective of whether information is or isn’t held, to release to the world tactical information could compromise the effectiveness of law enforcement. It would also help criminals or those with a criminal intent to build up a picture of where police resources are deployed.

Balancing Test:

Public safety and the ability to deliver effective law enforcement is of paramount importance to the Police Service. Releasing this information would undoubtedly compromise law enforcement.  As much as there is public interest in knowing that policing activity is appropriate and if an FOI disclosure revealed information to the world that would undermine the security of the national infrastructure, offenders could use this to their advantage which would compromise public safety and more worryingly encourage offenders to carry out further crimes.

In accordance with Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this notification acts as a Refusal Notice to this section of your request.

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