Auditors visits at police stations 783/2022

FOI Reference: 783/2022 

Request:

How many incidents has the force recorded involving so called ‘auditors’* at police stations or buildings in the last five years?

Please provide figures for the last 5 years, breaking down into annual figures by financial year. 

*Note  - in this case, auditors refers to people who film police building and their interactions with officer - they may then post the footage online.

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 the cost of determining whether any information relative to this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.

Section 12 (2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit

Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone 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 223.5 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244

The Freedom of Information Unit has been advised that the information requested in relation to your request regarding reports of auditors, specifically recording police buildings and officer interactions for the last 5 years isn’t in an easily retrievable format and would exceed the appropriate time limit, i.e. 18 hours, to retrieve.

This is due to the fact that, the relevant department has advised that they are unable to carry out a keyword search for ‘auditors’.  These types of reports are likely to of been recorded as P-Suspicious or Anti-Social Behaviour.  Each relevant record will need to be checked to see if this information is held.  It has been established that there are 1,341 records which would require individual review to establish this information.

In order to do this, it is estimated it would take approximately 10 minutes to review each record.  The relevant time estimate is detailed below:

P-sus = suspicious incident,  ASB = antisocial behaviour.

Therefore, total time estimate to complete request = 223.50 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 me.

Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.

This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on the 2^nd Nov 2022.