Illegal vape sales and spiking 706/2024
FOI Reference: 706/2024
Request:
- Between January 2024 and June 2024, how many businesses or individuals in your local area / jurisdiction, have faced legal action (charged/cautioned etc.) for selling vapes (or similar products) to people under the age of 18?
- Between January 2024 and June 2024, how many times have the police been involved in (attended / charged / investigated etc.) cases of 'spiking' in relation to spiked vapes or similar products?
Clarification:
A 'spiked vape / e-cigarette' is a vape that has been laced with substances such as, but not limited to; vapourised LSD, synthetic marijuana, or painkillers, which can lead to serious health implications. Examples of spiking include; adding substances to a product without the knowledge and/or consent from the victim.
Response 1:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does not hold the information requested, this is due to the fact that this is not a notifiable offence.
Please note that local authorities may hold information in relation to this question and you may wish to make enquiries with them via the following links:
Carmarthenshire - Freedom of Information (gov.wales)
Powys - Make a Freedom of Information request (or EIR) - Powys County Council
Ceredigion Freedom of Information - Ceredigion County Council
Pembrokeshire Freedom of Information and Environmental Information - Pembrokeshire County Council
Response 2:
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 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 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 962 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244
The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in respect of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. Therefore, in order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to question 2 of the request would require the individual interrogation of all incidents under multiple categories over the time frame specified to identify if any incidents in question related to your request.
It has been established that there are a total of 5772 incidents that cover the period of your request. It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single incident in respect of your request (as outlined above). The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
2066 incidents of C-Assault x 10 minutes = 344 hours
2748 incidents of P-Safety x 10 minutes = 458 hours
175 incidents of C-Drugs x 10 minutes = 29 hours
783 incidents of C-Sexual x 10 minutes = 131 hours
Time estimate to complete task = 962 hours
In accordance therefore 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 public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.
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.
Furthermore, it should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 31/07/2024)