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Corrosive Fluids (160A/21)

Request

I would like to request statistics that reveal the number of corrosive fluid offences or acid attacks recorded in the West Midlands Police area in 2020.

  1. I would like to request the number of offences that were categorised as an acid attack or corrosive fluid offence between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2020 inclusive, broken down by month where possible;

2.The percentage and or number of said offences mentioned in 1. that were recorded as Violent Offences within the category ‘Violence Against the Person’ also broken down by month;

  1. Where available the percentage and or number of said offences mentioned in 1. that were flagged as Hate Crimes also broken down by month;
  2. The ethnicity, age and gender of victims of the said Violent Offences mentioned in 2. broken down by month;
  3. The ethnicity, age and gender of suspects in the said Violent Offences mentioned in 2. broken down by month;
  4. The outcomes of the said Violent Offences mentioned in 2. broken down by month;
  5. Of the said positive outcomes mentioned in 6. the ethnicity, age and gender of suspects broken down by month.

Response

We can confirm that some relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the majority of the information is attached to this email I am afraid that I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please find attached a redacted document.

REASONS FOR DECISION

The redacted information is exempt by virtue of the following exemption:

S40 – Personal Data

These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:

https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/information-management/freedom-of-information/#freedom-of-information-exemptions

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.

Attachments

160A_ATTACHMENT_02 160A_ATTACHMENT_01