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Use of Force (1124A/22)

Request

I am looking to collect information regarding Police use of force prior to and after the regular introduction of body worn cameras.

Can you please provide the following information if it is held on record?

– The breakdown of use of force incidents by Police officers, per year from 2012 to 2015 (if possible). Can the same information also be shared for the years 2018 to 2021.

If not all information can be provided, can at least use of force information from 1 year before the introduction of BWV, and after the introduction of BWV be provided for comparison.

Clarification received 25/08/2022:

A breakdown of the use of force incidents including what type of force (unarmed skills, PAVA/TASER etc), and the number of times it occurred, in the years 2012 to 2015 and then the same again for 2018 to 2021.

If this is not possible for whatever reason, can this be done for at least 1 year before the introduction of BWV and then one year after. So for example, 2012 and then 2021.

Response

Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide this information within the appropriate (cost) limit under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Prior to January 2018 we did not record Use of Force data electronically or in a centrally collated format. In order to try to identify information prior to 2018 would require a manual review of records and would therefore exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12).

This means that the cost of providing you with the information is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request and if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit then S12 of the Act applies to the whole request.

However, under Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for the years 2018 – 2021. Please find this attached.

This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.

Further information on section 12 of FOI is available here:

https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/information-management/freedom-of-information/#fees-and-charges

Attachments

1124A_Attachment