Face Mask Fines (1009A/20)
Request
- How many people have been fined for not wearing a face mask ? Please give statistics for the past eight calendar weeks?
- Out of all the persons that have been fined for not wearing a face mask how many people have stated that they are mask exempt due to an illness or disability.
- Please clarify if your police officers would still tackle somebody wearing a mask exemption lanyard for not wearing a face mask?
- In how many cases have police offers asked to see visible medical evidence with regards to face mask exemptions?
- Within your police force how many officers are mask exempt due to a long term disability or illness?
- How many complaints have the constabulary had regarding too the policing of face masks?
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.