Domestic Abuse (364A/20)
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please could you provide me with the following information:
- a) the number of officers assigned to specialist roles supporting domestic abuse/violence victims in each of the last five years
- b) the number of arrests made for domestic abuse/violence in every month so far this year (2020)
- c) the number of arrests made for domestic abuse/violence in each of the last five years
- d) the budget in each of the last five years for any specialist domestic abuse/violence unit that the force may have
- e) the amount spent on training police officers in supporting domestic abuse/violence victims in each of the last five years.
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).
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: