Sudden Deaths (1248A/20)
Request
Please can you provide me with the total number of Sudden Deaths reported to you in 2020 and 2019, broken down on a monthly basis?
If it is possible to also provide the same data in respect of 2018 and 2017, I would be grateful to receive that too.
Response
Please find our response enclosed.
| INCIDENT DATE MONTH | INCIDENT DATE YEAR | GRAND TOTAL | |||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | JAN – 21 DEC 2020 | ||
| Jan | 279 | 345 | 270 | 300 | 1,194 |
| Feb | 242 | 256 | 230 | 224 | 952 |
| Mar | 223 | 264 | 215 | 197 | 899 |
| Apr | 234 | 227 | 224 | 364 | 1,049 |
| May | 215 | 209 | 212 | 231 | 867 |
| Jun | 212 | 189 | 216 | 126 | 743 |
| Jul | 193 | 195 | 200 | 129 | 717 |
| Aug | 226 | 205 | 215 | 110 | 756 |
| Sep | 197 | 207 | 201 | 161 | 766 |
| Oct | 236 | 224 | 221 | 128 | 809 |
| Nov | 258 | 240 | 234 | 116 | 848 |
| Dec | 279 | 230 | 329 | 92 | 930 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 2,794 | 2,791 | 2,767 | 2,178 | 10,530 |
Please note that these data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.
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.
As recommended as good practice by the Information Commissioner’s Office a version of this response may be published on the West Midlands Police website.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For further information and data on West Midlands Police see our publication scheme and disclosure log
http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/
RIGHT OF APPEAL
Your attention is drawn to your right to request a re-examination of your case under West Midlands Police review procedure, which can be found at:
http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/reviews-and-appeals/
Please note that such an appeal must be received within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the FOI Unit.
Yours sincerely,
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