Stalking (1363/20)
Request
Please may I request the following information:
- How many cases of stalking were recorded by your police force
- 1st January 2018 – 31st December 2018
- 1st January 2019 – 31st December 2019
- Of these cases, how many of the named suspects had previously been named in reports of stalking against:
- the same victim
- multiple victims
- From the cases identified above how many victims were repeat victims of stalking (please provide your definition of repeat victims)?
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). In order to answer questions 2 and 3 we would need to conduct a manual search of in excess of 400 records, this 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.