Cyber flashing 330/2024

FOI Reference: 330/2024

Request:

1) How many reports have been made related to cyber flashing (since it became an offence in January 2024?)

2)  How many of these reports have led to successful prosecutions?

3) How many of these reports led to no further action.

Clarification:

1. yes how many times an incident has been reported to the police and then how many of those were then categorised as 'crimes'
2. see comment above (I'd like the figures for both please.)

 

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 some 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 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 611 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 Unit has been advised that the information requested in relation to questions 1-3 (incidents) is not held in an easily retrievable format and would exceed the appropriate time limit, i.e. 18 hours, to retrieve. This is due to the fact that there is no specific category for cyber flashing therefore various categories would need to be interrogated.

It has been estimated that to individually interrogate each incident would take approximately 10 minutes per incident. It has been established that there are a total of 3,368 incidents that would require interrogation. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:

2024 (up to 28/03/24): 3,368 incidents x 10 minutes per incident = 611.33 hours

Therefore, total time estimate to complete the request = 611.33 hours.

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 me.

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 removed the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill, I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved or available before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. 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 1 - 3 (Crimes Only):

	2024 (up to 16/04/24)
Total number of cyber flashing crimes recorded	5
Total number of crimes which resulted in prosecution	0
Total number of crimes which led to no further action	0

Please note: Some of these cases may still be ongoing.

 

This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on the 26^th April 2024.