Gallwch adael y wefan hon yn gyflym drwy wasgu’r fysell Escape Allanfa Gyflym
Rydym yn defnyddio rhai cwcis hanfodol i wneud i’n gwefan weithio. Hoffem osod cwcis ychwanegol fel y gallwn gofio eich dewisiadau a deall sut rydych yn defnyddio ein gwefan.
Gallwch reoli eich dewisiadau a gosodiadau cwcis unrhyw bryd drwy glicio ar “Addasu cwcis” isod. I gael rhagor o wybodaeth am sut rydym yn defnyddio cwcis, gweler ein Hysbysiad cwcis.
Mae eich dewisiadau cwcis wedi’u cadw. Gallwch ddiweddaru eich gosodiadau cwcis unrhyw bryd ar y dudalen cwcis.
Mae eich dewisiadau cwcis wedi’u cadw. Gallwch ddiweddaru eich gosodiadau cwcis unrhyw bryd ar y dudalen cwcis.
Mae’n ddrwg gennym, roedd problem dechnegol. Rhowch gynnig arall arni.
Diolch am roi cynnig ar fersiwn 'beta' ein gwefan newydd. Mae'n waith ar y gweill, byddwn yn ychwanegu gwasanaethau newydd dros yr wythnosau nesaf, felly cymerwch gip a gadewch i ni wybod beth yw eich barn chi.
FOI Reference: 74/2024
Request:
1. For the months of November and December 2023 how many crimes were logged by your force where a machete was recorded as being an element in the offence? [Note: I would hope that this could be achieved by a computer search on the MO of crimes for the words "machete" or variants of the spelling to include "machette" and "machetes".
2. Please provide me with a table showing a breakdown of the crimes from Question 1 that are `linked’ to machete/s by its mention in the MO.
3. Taking the month of December 2023 please provide me with copies of the first 5 MOs that mention machetes. [Note: To avoid falling into an exemption I am content for names, ages, geography or any other personal detail to be redacted].
Response:
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed-Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However, we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect 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 exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum 457 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm
The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in relation to your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. This is because to obtain the information we would have to review all crimes recorded during the specified time period in order to establish whether a machete is recorded as being an element in the offence. Please also note that the system used is unable to conduct keyword searches.
It has been established that there are a total of 5,482 records that would need to be individually reviewed to search for the relevant key words, for the time period you have quoted (November to December 2023), and it has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to research each individual record. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
Total time estimate to complete whole request = 5 x 5,482 = 457 hours.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the WHOLE of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours.
Should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
It should be noted that owing to the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such matters the information provided may or may not be accurate.
Police Forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recoding criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons this Force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 15/02/24)