Airbnb (385A/22)
Request
1) In the 2021 calendar year how many crimes were logged by your force where Airbnb was recorded as being an element in the offence?
[Note: I would hope that this could be achieved by a computer search on the MO of crimes for the word/s ‘airbnb’, ‘air bnb’, ‘air-bnb’ and ‘air bandb’.]
2) Please provide me with a table showing a breakdown of the crimes from Question 1 that are ‘linked’ to Airbnb by its mention in the MO.
3) Please provide me with copies of the first 10 MOs that mention Airbnb.
Response
I can confirm that some relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please find attached redacted documents (385A_22_attachment1.pdf & 385A_22_attachment2.pdf).
REASON FOR DECISION
The redacted information on the attached documents is exempt by virtue of the following:
Section 30(1)(a)(b) – Investigations and proceedings
Section 40(2) – Personal information
These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:
Section 40(2) is an absolute and class-based exemption if to release the information that exists would breach the third party’s data protection rights. In this case, to release this personal information would not constitute fair processing of the data. As this exemption is class based I am not required to identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance, I believe that the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release.
In line with Section 30 above, I am required to complete a Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached [385A_22_PIT.pdf].
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.