Under 18 spiking incidents 525/2024
FOI Reference: 525/2024
Request:-
1) The number of people aged 18 or under who have been victim to either a confirmed or suspected spiking incident.
I would like this information broken down by the following, where that information is available:
2) Age
3) Gender
4) Suspected method of spiking, e.g. vaping or drink or needle
5) Whether the incident occurred at a place of education, for example school or college
6) Whether the victim required any treatment at hospital
7) Date of the incident
I would like this information for the past five years to the most recent date available, or as far back as possible given the cost and time parameters allowed under the FoI Act.
Response
The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in relation to part of this request is not held in an easily retrievable format. This is due to the fact that the information would have to be manually extracted from our systems.
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 part of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to part of 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 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 130 hours) to comply with this part of 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 Question 5 - 7 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to your request for the time frame stipulated would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and reviewing manually each record.
It has been established that there are a total of 1,303 records that cover the period of your request. It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 6 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single record in respect of your request. The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
Response Q5- Q7
A manual review of all incidents with the key words “spiked”, spike” and “spiking” in time periods below would need to be carried out to identify the volume of spiking incidents and other information in the table. It would take an estimated 6 minutes to review each record.
The following figures show the number of recorded incidents for the specified years:-
The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
2020: 158 Incidents = 15.8hrs
2021 (up to 30/09/2021): 214 Incidents = 21.4hrs
2023 (01/06/2023 onwards): 250 Incidents = 25 hrs
Total number of incidents 622 (Between 2020 – 2023) = 62hrs of work
To establish whether the incident occurred at a place of education and whether the victim required any treatment at hospital, the following records would need to be reviewed:-
2020: 158 Incidents = 15.8hrs
2021: (up to 30/09/2021): 214 Incidents = 21.4hrs
2021: (01/10/2021 onwards): 20 Incidents = 2hrs
2022: 32 Incidents = 3.2hrs
2023: (up to 31/05/2023): 7 Incidents = 0.7hrs
2023 = (01/06/2023 onwards): 250 Incidents = 25hrs
Total number of incidents 681(Between 2020-2023). = 68 hours of work.
Total number of records for whole request = 1,303 records x 6 minutes = 130 hours
Time estimated to complete whole task = 130 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.
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 question 1 - 4 of your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined in the table 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.
Response to Q1 – Q4:
| Month / Year | Volume | Ages | Gender | Suspected Method of Spiking |
| Oct-21 | 7 | 1 x 14 year old, 2x 16 year olds, 4x 18 year olds | 7 x F | 3 x Drink, 4 x Needle |
| Nov-21 | 7 | 1 x 15 year old, 1 x16 year old, 5 x 18 year olds | 6 x F, 1 x M | 4 x Drink, 1 x Needle, 2 x Unknown |
| Dec-21 | 6 | 1 x 14 year old, 1 x17 year old, 4x 18 year olds | 3 x F, 3 x M | 4 x Drink, 2 x Unknown |
| Jan-22 | 6 | 2 x 16 year olds, 3 x17 year olds, 1x 18 year olds | 6 x F | 4 x Drink, 1 x Needle, 1 x Unknown |
| Feb-22 | 2 | 2 x17 year olds | 2 x F | 1 x Drink, 1 x Unknown |
| Mar-22 | 2 | 2 x18 year olds | 1 x F, 1 x M | 1 x Needle, 1 x Unknown |
| Apr-22 | 2 | 2 x18 year olds | 2 x F | 2 x Unknown |
| May-22 | 2 | 1 x14 year old, 1 x18 year old | 1 x F, 1 x M | 1 x Needle, 1 x Unknown |
| Jun-22 | 2 | 2 x17 year olds | 2 x F | 2 x Drink |
| Jul-22 | 2 | 2 x18 year olds | 2 x F | 1 x Needle, 1 x Unknown |
| Aug-22 | 5 | 1 x 12 year old, 2x 15 year olds, 1x 16 year olds, 1x 18 year olds | 5 x F | 4 x Drink, 1 x Needle |
| Sep-22 | 2 | 1 x17 year old, 1 x18 year old | 1 x F, 1 x M | 2 x Drink |
| Oct-22 | 5 | 5 x 18 year olds | 3 x F, 2 x M | 2 x Drink, 3 x Needle |
| Nov-22 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Dec-22 | 2 | 2 x18 year olds | 2 x F | 2 x Drink |
| Jan-23 | 3 | 1 x 12 year old, 2x 17 year olds | 3 x F | 3 x Drink |
| Feb-23 | 1 | 1 x18 year olds | 1 x F | 1 x Drink |
| Mar-23 | 1 | 1 x18 year olds | 1 x F | 1 x Needle |
| Apr-23 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| May-23 | 2 | 2 x18 year olds | 1 x F, 1 x M | 2 x Needle |
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 13/06/2024)