Operation Snap (392A/20)
Request
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information.
I am after information relating to your police force and Operation SNAP.
In particular, are you able to provide me with:
1) Is your police force a part of Operation SNAP, or does it have a similar, bespoke system in place through which members of the public can upload video footage from dash cams of traffic offences, which officers can then review and determine whether to directly issue a Fixed Penalty Notice/Driver Awareness Course (or similar)/Court Prosecution or warning?
2) If your police force is a part of Operation SNAP, or has a similar system in place as described in Question 1), could you please provide the following:
· Number of video footages sent to you
· Number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued from evidence submitted via Operation SNAP or a similar system
· Number of court prosecutions issued from evidence submitted via Operation SNAP or a similar system
· Number of Driver Awareness Courses (or any other driver improvement course) issued from evidence submitted via Operation SNAP or a similar system
Could you please provide answers to Question 2) for the following calendar years:
2017
2018
2019
2020 – up to the latest month available.
If your force has not been a part of Operation SNAP, or not had its own equivalent system as described in Question 1), since 2017, please provide figures from the year the programme started.
If your database works under a Fiscal Year calendar, please provide figures to the corresponding fiscal 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.
In terms of the drop in those cases processed in 2020, this is as a result of CoVID19 and the focus on collisions over this type of offence. We are however back up and running as normal now.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). The only way to identify this data is through a search of notices issued by officers from the Traffic Process Department who conduct a review of the incoming reports, as a result the data may not be 100% accurate.
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: