Missing RSO’s (1149A/20)
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to know the following:
1) As of December 1st 2020, how many registered sex offenders were classified as either missing / wanted / whereabouts unknown within your force?
2) Please could you list each by name.
3) Please could you also list the year they went missing
4) If unable to do (1) and (2), please could you tell me: out of all sex offenders who are currently missing, what is the longest period of time that any of them has been missing for?
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. Information is being withheld for question two of your request. Please find attached a redacted document.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 40(2) Personal Information
Section 31(1)(a)(b) Law Enforcement
These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:
In line with the above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached [1149A_PIT_01].
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.