Released Under Investigation (745A/22)
Request
1) For each year from the start of 2019 up to now, the number of people who have been released under investigation by West Midlands Police.
2) I would like a breakdown of the crimes these people were suspected of committing.
3) I would like to know how many people remained under investigation for at least a year (only for cases which are at least a year old).
4) Of the total number released under investigation in each of 2019, 2020 and 2021, how many are currently still released under investigation?
Response
We can confirm that relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the majority of the information is attached to this email, I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please find attached our response.
Please note however, due to a major system change, it has not been possible to extract the information for question 4. We are hopeful that an update will be implemented in the future, but no timeframe has yet been established as to when this might be.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 31(1)(a)(b) – Law enforcement
This exemption 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 (745A_PIT).
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.