Crimes mentioning dating platforms 784/2026

FOI Reference: 784/2026

Request:

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request information regarding recorded crimes involving online dating platforms.

Please provide data for the timeframe 1st January 2024 to present day 2026, broken down by calendar year (2024, 2025, and 2026 to date).

Question 1: Total Recorded Crimes

How many total offenses were recorded by your force during the specified timeframe where the MO description or Incident Summary contained any of the following search terms:

"Tinder"

"Bumble"

"Hinge"

"Grindr"

"dating app" or "dating site"

Please categorize these matching records by the following crime classifications: Sexual Offenses , Domestic Abuse / Domestic Violence , Stalking / Harassment.

Question 2: Outcome / Charging Rates

For the crimes identified in Question 1 across each of those three categories (Sexual Offenses, Domestic Abuse, Stalking & Harassment):

How many resulted in a Charge / Postal Requisition / Summons?

Please provide the breakdown of outcomes (e.g., Charged, Cautioned, Evidential Difficulties - Victim Does Not Support, No Suspect Identified) if readily available.

Question 3: Dating App Bans & Ancillary Orders

For the cases identified in Question 2 that resulted in a Charge, Caution, or Conviction:

How many resulted in an order, condition, or prohibition banning or restricting the offender/suspect from using dating apps or online dating services?

(Please include bans/prohibitions imposed via Court Orders or Legal Conditions, such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs), Sexual Risk Orders (SROs), Stalking Protection Orders (SPO), Restraining Orders, or formal Pre-Charge / Post-Charge Police Bail Conditions).

Section 16 (Advice and Assistance / Cost Limit Refinement)

If answering Question 3 in full requires a manual review of individual court order files that would breach the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the FOIA: Please prioritize providing the numerical data for Question 1 and Question 2.

For Question 3, please restrict the search to recorded ancillary orders (e.g., SHPOs or Restraining Orders) that contain automated keyword tags for dating app prohibitions, or advise on how this portion of the request can be refined under Section 16.

Response 1:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, the details of which are as follows:

Please note: The below response relates to keyword searches of all crime summaries for “Tinder", "Bumble", "Hinge", "Grindr", "dating app" or "dating site”, any records not related to online dating platforms were removed.

Response 2:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, the details of which are as follows:

Response 3:

N/A which is based on the response to outlined in respect of question 2 i.e. no charges, cautions or conviction.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 24/08/2026)