Missing Persons (1128A/21)
Request
- The number of missing people reported to West Midlands Police from March 2020 to today’s date (26/07/21) and their ethnicity.
- Of these missing people reports, I would also like a breakdown of whether they were actioned by police within 24, 48 or up to 72 hours, with a further breakdown by ethnicity.
- I would also like a breakdown by ethnicity of the initial level of perceived risk (high, medium or low) under which each report was categorised.
- How many people reported missing between March 2020 and today’s date (26/07/21) were found with a breakdown by ethnicity.
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 would need to conduct a manual review of all relevant records in order to locate and retrieve all of the requested information, which would exceed the FOI time limit.
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.