FOI 379/25 Violent Crimes

Enquiry Reference:  - SAR 379/25                                                                

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

I would like data from January 2022 to the most recent data you have on:

• The number of under 18s convicted of violent crimes.

• The number of those who were previously known to police.

• The number of those who were known to police owing to calls or incidents logged from their family home.

• The number of 18-21 year olds convicted of violent crimes.

• The number of those who were previously known to police.

• The number of those who were known to police owing to calls or incidents logged from their family home.

Answer

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) 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 Sec 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Having made enquiries within the Force we can confirm we hold information pertinent to your request. However, it is estimated that this would take in excess of the appropriate time stipulated by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer on the 18th Of October 2004, that is, eighteen hours. This includes the time it would take to investigate where the individual was living in 2022 at the time of the crime and if they had previously been known to police. Also calls and incident logs taken from the family home would be a complex piece of work to complete. This falls under the exemption of 'Compliance exceeding the appropriate limit' covered by Section 12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and as such this work could not be undertaken.

Therefore, please treat this as a refusal notice under S17 of the Freedom of information Act.

Section 16 to provide assistance in relation to requests for information and in keeping with the spirit of the Act, on this occasion, I am providing some retrieved information for that part of your request which was retrieved or available before it was realised that the time limit would be exceeded.

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