Sex Trafficking & County Lines 588/2024
FOI Reference: 588/2024
Request Sex trafficking and Exploitation:
- Please could you provide me with the number of investigations into sex trafficking recorded by your force, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
- Please could you provide me with the number of victims of sex trafficking identified in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Of these please could you break them down by their nationality (if unknown please state)
Of these please could you break them down by adult/child victims (if unknown please state)
- Please could you provide me with the number of sex trafficking suspects identified in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
- Please could you provide me with the number of charges in relation to sex trafficking in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Of these please could you confirm the number charged under the modern day slavery act. If any were charged under the "alternate offences rule" please could you give me the number and offence charged.
- Please could you provide me with the number of convictions for sex trafficking in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive). Of these please could you confirm the number convicted under the modern day slavery act. If any were charged under the "alternate offences rule" please could you give me the number and offence convicted
- Please could you provide me with the number of staff solely investigating sex trafficking, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Request County Lines:
- Please could you provide me with the number of investigations into county lines related modern day slavery recorded by your force, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
- Please could you provide me with the number of victims of county lines related modern day slavery identified in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Of these please could you break them down by their nationiality (if unknown please state)
Of these please could you break them down by adult/child victims (if unknown please state)
- Please could you provide me with the number of county lines related modern day slavery suspects identified in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
- Please could you provide me with the number of charges in relation to county lines related modern day slavery in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Of these please could you confirm the number charged under the modern day slavery act
If any were charged under the "alternate offences rule" please could you give me the number and offence charged.
- Please could you provide me with the number of convictions for county lines related modern day slavery in your force area, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Of these please could you confirm the number convicted under the modern day slavery act
If any were charged under the "alternate offences rule" please could you give me the number and offence convicted.
- Please could you provide me with the number of staff solely investigating county lines related modern day slavery, broken down annually from 2018 until 2022 (inclusive).
Clarification:
- By investigation I am referring to any crime which has been recorded in line with NCRS and the HOCR.
- By victim I am seeking details of any person identified as such in the above records.
- By charges I mean any person who has received a charging decision (whether under the Modern Slavery Act or under the alternative offence rules) and has been charged to court. There is a follow up question for any persons convicted at court.
Response 1-5 (sex trafficking):
I can confirm that there is no information held by Dyfed-Powys Police due to the fact that the answer to all questions is zero (0).
Response 6 (sex trafficking):
I can confirm that there is no information held by Dyfed-Powys Police due to the fact that the force does not employ staff solely for investigating sex trafficking.
Response 1 (County Lines):
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the requested information, as outlined below.
2018 – 9
2019 – 6
2020 – 15
2021 – 15
2022 – 15
Response 2 (County Lines):
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the requested information, as outlined below.
Total number of victims:
2018 – 9
2019 – 6
2020 – 15
2021 – 15
2022 – 15
However, the information in relation to nationality and whether the victim is an adult or child is exempted as we believe that the following exemption is relevant:
Section 40(2) Personal Information
Section 40(2) is a class-based absolute exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information. There is also no requirement to carry out a Public Interest Test.
Section 40(2) Personal Information:
Section 40(2) applies to third party personal data and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 if disclosure, in relation to data subject to law enforcement processing, would breach any of the data protection principles contained within Part 3 - Chapter 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018. Under Section 34 within Chapter 2 “The Controller in relation to personal data is responsible for and must be able to demonstrate, compliance with” Chapter 2. Such information would not be released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless there is a strong public interest. One of the main differences between the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 is that any information released under FOI is released into the public domain, not just the individual requesting the information and disclosure under the Act must be made with that in mind. As such, any release that identifies an individual through releasing their personal data, even third party personal data is exempt.
Personal data is defined under Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as:
“(2) ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual (subject to subsection (14)(c)).
(3) ‘Identifiable living individual’ means a living individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a) An identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier, or
(b) One or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.”
All members of the public including those employed by the force have an intrinsic right to privacy and these rights are protected by virtue of the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and a public authority must not interfere with that right. Any release of the information subject to the exemption is likely to compromise those rights.
Data Protection Act 2018
Part 3 – Law Enforcement – Chapter 2 Principles Section 35
The first data protection principle:
“(1) The first data protection principle is that the processing of personal data for any of the law enforcement purposes must be lawful and fair.”
General Data Protection Regulation
Article 5 of the GDPR – ‘Principles relating to processing of personal data’ provides:
“1. ‘Personal data’ shall be
(a) Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency);
(b) Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest…
2. The controller shall be responsible for, and be able to demonstrate compliance with, paragraph 1 (‘accountability’).”
Dyfed-Powys Police would not want to disclose any information that could potentially identify an individual. In this particular case, to release the requested information, considering the low number of victims recorded and the nature of the offence being referred to, would lead to the identification of those individuals. To release such information would be a direct breach of Data Protection legislation as a consequence I am satisfied that Section 40(2) Personal Information exemption is applicable to the release of the information.
The Section 40 exemption is a class-based exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information.
Response 3 (County Lines):
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the requested information, as outlined below.
2018 – 3
2019 – 4
2020 – 8
2021 – 4
2022 – 8
Response 4 (County Lines):
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the requested information, as outlined below.
1 charged for possession with intent to supply
Response 5 (County Lines)
I can confirm that there is no information held by Dyfed-Powys Police due to the fact that the answer to the question is zero (0).
Response 6 (County Lines):
I can confirm that there is no information held by Dyfed-Powys Police due to the fact that the force does not employ staff solely for investigating County Lines.
Additionally, Dyfed-Powys Police can neither confirm nor deny that it holds any other information relevant to this request, as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply by virtue of:
Section 23(5) Information Supplied by, or concerning, certain Security Bodies.
Section 23 is a class based absolute exemption and there is no requirement to consider the public interest in this case. Confirming or denying the existence of whether any other information is held would contravene the constrictions laid out within Section 23 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in that this stipulates a generic bar on disclosure of any information applied by, or concerning, certain Security Bodies.
It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 13/08/2024)