Bladed Articles in Schools (2997/20)
Request
I would like to find out how many children were found in possession of a bladed article at schools in Birmingham between 2017 to date (2020).
If it is possible to detail the schools and how many incidents each has had that would be helpful.
If it is also categorised in a way which enables the age of the children to be identified that would be useful too.
Response
We can confirm that relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the majority of the information is attached to this email, I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please find this information attached.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 30(1) – Investigations and proceedings
Section 40(2) – Personal information
These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:
In line with the above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached (2997_PIT).
Section 40(2) is an absolute and class based exemption if to release the information 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.
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.
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.