Stalking 1135/2024
FOI Reference: 1135/2024
Request:
- Since 2013 how many stalking reports has your force received from the public per calendar year?
- Does your force have a stalking clinic or multi-agency teams specifically aimed at addressing stalking offending?
If yes: When did the force first begin using or participating in a stalking clinic?
- The number of stalking offences referred to the clinic, per calendar year.
- Do Dyfed-Powys Police record whether an individual has engaged in a stalking clinic?
- Do Dyfed-Powys Police record the stalking reoffending rates since the implementation of the stalking clinic? If yes what are the statistics?
- Are there any mechanisms in place to monitor individuals after they have attended the stalking clinic?
- What treatment or behavioural intervention methods are used in the stalking clinic?
- How do you ensure the safety of victims while the perpetrator is participating in or after completing the clinic?
Please provide the information via email in electronic form and any data in calendar years.
Clarification:
Clarification was sought from the applicant and it was confirmed that the request relates to both crimes and incidents.
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 question 1 (incidents of stalking) of 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 21,028.24 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 department has been advised that the information in respect of question 1 (stalking incidents) your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. Therefore, in order to establish a response in relation to question 1 (stalking incidents) of the request would require the individual interrogation of all incidents under the category of ‘domestic’ over the time frame 2013 - 2024 to identify if the incident in question related to stalking. It has been established that for the period as specified within the request there are a total 126,173 domestic incidents that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research a single incident for relevance to question 1 of your request as outlined above, resulting in the following broken down time estimate.
|
2013 |
= |
4,617 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
769.50 |
|
2014 |
= |
4,753 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
792.17 |
|
2015 |
= |
7,067 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
1,177.83 |
|
2016 |
= |
8,319 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
1,386.50 |
|
2017 |
= |
8,983 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
1,497.17 |
|
2018 |
= |
9,329 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
1,554.83 |
|
2019 |
= |
11,765 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
1,960.83 |
|
2020 |
= |
13,043 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
2,173.83 |
|
2021 |
= |
13,801 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
2,300.17 |
|
2022 |
= |
14,794 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
2,465.67 |
|
2023 |
= |
15,511 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
2,585.17 |
|
2024 |
= |
14,191 |
incidents at 10 mins per incident = |
2,365.17 |
Total of 21,028.24 hours to complete task and request
Please note: In 2024 a new incident category of ‘stalking’ was introduced. However, in order to provide a true and accurate representation of the data requested for question 1 (stalking incidents) the domestic incidents in 2024 would still need to be reviewed as outlined above. In addition to this, a response in relation to question 1 (for crimes only) and question 2 of your request can be provided within the 18 hour time limit.
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.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 11/12/24)