Registered Sex Offenders (200A/24)
Request
I would like to know:
1) At the start of every year from 2014 to 2024, the number of registered sex offenders in the West Midlands Police force area
2) The number of registered sex offenders in 2023 who notified WMP they were changing address
3) The number of registered sex offenders in 2023 who notified WMP they intended to travel abroad – and the number who were granted permission to travel abroad
4) The total number of registered sex offenders in WMP force area whose whereabouts are currently unknown (sometimes described as ‘missing’)
5) The total number of registered sex offenders in WMP force area whose whereabouts are currently unknown after they notified WMP after they were given permission to travel abroad
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.
The totals provided are only valid for the date in question because the information is dynamic and changes as arrests are made or new cases come to light through proactive intelligence led policing or routine visits to registered offenders.
Our main priority is to protect the most vulnerable from harm.
We have detectives who specialise in monitoring sex offenders who work with our partners to actively locate these people and we continually work with our police colleagues across the world to trace them.
As a matter of course, details of all missing registered sex offenders are circulated on the Police National Computer and to all forces and law enforcement agencies.
Our approach to finding these people is assessed on a case by case basis so we can maximise, rather than compromise, our opportunities to find and arrest them.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). In relation to question 5, we are unable to locate and retrieve this information, it would take 15 minutes to review each of the 80 records which would equate to 20 hours and 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.