Coercive Control and Stalking (248A/24)
Request
My request relates to the surge in GPS tracker usage involved in coercive control and stalking cases in 2023.
I would like to request the following information:
1) Can you please provide me with the total number of coercive control cases AND stalking cases that your police force has dealt with in 2023? Please display the total case numbers for coercive control and stalking separately.
2) Can you also please provide me with the number of cases in 2023 that were dealt with by your police force where GPS tracking was used as a form of coercive control? This could include social media trackers, technology-based trackers, Air Tags, trackers on apps etc.
3) Can you also please provide me with the number of cases in 2023 that were dealt with by your police force where GPS tracking was used as a form of stalking? This could include social media trackers, Air Tags, technology-based trackers, trackers on apps etc.
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 relation to questions 2 and 3 we would need to conduct a keyword search for GPS which would be unreliable, if we allowed 5 minutes per record for 10812 records, that would equate to in excess of 900 hours and 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.