Football Arrests (1543A/22)
Request
Under the FOI Act I would like to request the following information:
- The number of police officers assigned to the following teams and their stadiums on match days from 13th August 2021- 22nd May 2022.
– Aston Villa
– Birmingham City
– West Bromwich Albion
– Wolverhampton Wanderers
– Walsall
- The number of football related arrests made between 13th August-22nd May 2022 on match days at the following teams home games.
– Aston Villa
– Birmingham City
– West Bromwich Albion
– Wolverhampton Wanderers
– Walsall
Response
Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).
Although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded (see attached). I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). In order to get accurate figures we would need to conduct a manual review of the relevant information, unfortunately this search would exceed the FOI time limit.
The cost of compliance with the whole of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, S.I. 3244.