Disability hate crime 226/23
FOI Reference: 226/2023
Request:
Could you please supply me with the following information concerning disability hate crime, as outlined below.
1: How many disability hate crimes have been recorded by your police force in 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/2020, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23
2: Regarding the yearly totals mentioned in question one, what was the total number of cases in which the victim was:
Under 16
16-17
18-25
26-40
41-60
Over 60
3: How many of the recorded incidents of disability hate crimes in the yearly totals mentioned in question one concerned acts of violence against a person?
4: How many of the recorded incidents of disability hate crimes in the yearly totals mentioned in question one took place online?
5: If recorded, please state the total number of disability hate crime cases carried out in/around school property (please include all educational establishments from early years to FE colleges).
6: Please state the total number of disability hate crime cases carried out in/around university property.
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.
I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to question 6 of 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.
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. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
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 determining what information is held, if any, relevant to question 6 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 of 20.33 hours) to comply with 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 respect of question 6 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format as there is no specific location tag in respect of universities. Therefore, in order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to question 6 of the request would require the individual interrogation of all disability hate crimes where the location tag of school or educational establishment has been utilised and also where location field has been left blank over the time frame specified to ascertain if the disability hate crime in question took place in or around a university. It has been established that for the period as specified within the request that there are a total 122 disability hate crimes that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research a single disability hate crime for relevance to question 6 of your request as outlined above, resulting in the following time estimate.
17/18 – 22/23 = 122 crimes@ 10 minutes per crime = 20.33 hours
Total of 20.33 hours to complete task
Please note: Question 5 would also exceed the 18 hour time limit equating to 18.83 hours as all the blank cells referred to above (i.e. 113) would need to be reviewed to ascertain if the disability hate crime was carried out in or around school property. This would be inclusive of question 6 as a response to question 5 and 6 could searched for at the same time.
In addition to the above a response to questions 1 – 4 can be provided within the 18 hour time frame and have been outlined at the end of the document (in calendar year format) as this has been easily retrievable. This information has been provided as a gesture of good will and outside of the FOI Act.
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 the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided information, relative to questions 1 – 4 of your request (in calendar year format) which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.
Question 1:
|
Year |
No. of Disability hate crimes |
|
2017 |
12 |
|
2018 |
31 |
|
2019 |
55 |
|
2020 |
94 |
|
2021 |
99 |
|
2022 |
102 |
|
2023 |
19 |
|
Grand Total |
412 |
Question 2:
|
Age bracket |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Grand Total |
|
Under 16 |
2 |
3 |
11 |
17 |
9 |
13 |
1 |
56 |
|
16-17 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
4 |
0 |
20 |
|
18-25 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
9 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
34 |
|
26-40 |
3 |
12 |
14 |
19 |
36 |
31 |
2 |
117 |
|
41-60 |
4 |
9 |
16 |
39 |
31 |
36 |
5 |
140 |
|
Over 60 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
7 |
17 |
8 |
45 |
|
Grand Total |
12 |
31 |
55 |
94 |
99 |
102 |
19 |
412 |
Question 3:
|
Acts of Violence against a person |
|
|
Year |
No. of Disability hate crimes |
|
2017 |
6 |
|
2018 |
18 |
|
2019 |
36 |
|
2020 |
43 |
|
2021 |
51 |
|
2022 |
57 |
|
2023 |
12 |
|
Grand Total |
223 |
Question 4:
|
Year |
No. of Disability hate crimes with an online flag |
|
2017 |
2 |
|
2018 |
6 |
|
2019 |
15 |
|
2020 |
21 |
|
2021 |
16 |
|
2022 |
16 |
|
2023 |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
78 |
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 21/03/23)