Allegations of domestic abuse were made against officers and staff (584A/21)
Request
- For each of the past five financial years, how many allegations of domestic abuse were made against officers and staff from your force?
Please break the figures down by financial year as follows:
- 2016/17
- 2017/18
- 2018/19
- 2019/20
- 2020/21 (if data is incomplete for this year, please include data up to the most recent available point).
- For each of the past five financial years, how many of these allegations…
- Resulted in disciplinary action being taken against the accused officer or staff member
- Resulted in the accused officer or staff member having a misconduct or gross misconduct hearing
- Resulted in the accused officer or staff member being dismissed
- Resulted in criminal action being taken against the accused officer or staff member
- Resulted in the accused officer or staff member being prosecuted
Please break the figures down by financial year as follows:
- 2016/17
- 2017/18
- 2018/19
- 2019/20
- 2020/21 (if data is incomplete for this year, please include data up to the most recent available point).
The government’s definition of domestic abuse is: “Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass but is not limited to the following types of abuse:
- psychological
- physical
- sexual
- financial
- emotional
Controlling behaviour is: a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.
Coercive behaviour is: an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.
This definition includes so called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, and is clear that victims are not confined to one gender or ethnic group.”
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).
I am unable to suggest any practical way in which your request may be modified in order to satisfy your query or bring it within the 18 hours stipulated by the Regulations. I am however willing to consider any refinements that you are able to make to your request, in accordance with Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act. If you would like to look into refining your request please contact me.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). We do not hold this information in a searchable format. Allegations of domestic violence would be recorded in crime systems. We do not record the occupation of the suspect in the crime systems in a searchable format.
Where any suspect is identified as a police officer, this would be referred to the Professional Standards Department as a conduct matter and the allegation recorded on PSD IT systems. However, there is no automatic search (such as a tick box for ‘suspect for domestic violence’), therefor only a free word search could be completed. This would not bring back all the information and therefor the data would be wholly inaccurate.
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.
Further information on section 12 of FOI is available here:
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