Crimes At Football Stadiums (889A/23)
Request
I am attempting to find which Premier League stadium has had the most reported crime, between 2018 and 2023, in particular:
Which matches played at Villa Park and Molineux Stadium have had the most reported levels of crime
What particular crimes were committed
What dates these crimes occurred
And whether any of these occurred at derby matches
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).
Although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded (see attached). I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). We are only able to provide data for the seasons 2021/22 and 2022/23. Data prior to those dates is not available.
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.