Blackmail; Voyuserism; Disclosure of private photos 2019 (2343/20)
Request
- Please could you provide the numbers of reported cases and outcomes for Extortion (under Section 21 of the Theft Act 1968 – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/section/21)for the year 2019 where the victim is 18 or over? We would also like this to include threats to share.
- Please could you provide the numbers of reported cases and outcomes for Voyeurism (under Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019- http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/2/enacted) for the year 2019 where the victim is 18 or over? We would also like this to include threats to share
- Please could you provide the numbers of reported cases and outcomes for Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress under section 33 of Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2016/22/part/1/crossheading/disclosure-of-an-intimate-photograph-or-film/enacted) for the year 2019 where the victim is 18 or over. We would also like this to include threats to share
For all three questions above:
Cases of the crimes and subsequent outcomes:
Arrests
Cautions given
Offenders charged and number of charges
Community resolution
Cases marked No Further Action
Response
Please find attached our response.
The “threats to share” element is not recorded in the offence of blackmail and voyeurism. The “threat to share” element in relation to the disclosure of private sexual images is a Scottish offence and West Midlands Police do not uphold Scottish Law.
Please note that these data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.
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.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.