New Quay dolphin calf rescue 633/2025

FOI Reference: 633/2025

Request

I was wondering how I can find out about the status of an investigation.

In March 2025, a Dolphin spotting boat trip and some members of the public allegedly assisted a Dolphin calf at New Quay. Due to their actions, there has been an investigation as to whether or not a wildlife crime was committed.

We are unable to use this company for work purposes or pictures of another location by Josh Pedley until we know if there is still an ongoing investigation.

Could you please let us know the status so I we can plan our work for the rest of the year?

Here is a link to BBC article on the incident:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7579qve2qxo

Response

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) 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 Freedom of Information Act requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which:

a) States that fact

b) Specifies the exemption(s) in question and

c) State (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies

Dyfed-Powys Police Force can neither confirm nor deny that it holds any information relevant to your request as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 30(3) Investigations

This should not be taken as conclusive evidence that any information that would meet your request exists or does not exist.

Section 31(3) is a prejudice-based and qualified exemption therefore there is a requirement to articulate the harm that would be caused in confirming or not whether information is held as well as carrying out a public interest test.

Evidence of harm

To confirm or deny whether information is held in relation to any alleged criminal activity of an individual/s would be likely to prejudice law enforcement functions of preventing and detecting crime, apprehending and prosecuting offenders. Issuing confirmation or denial responses in relation to any allegations, except for those that have already been publicly confirmed, would enable the public to build up a picture of who may have been subject of any allegations.  This would be prejudicial to policing functions, as individuals including victims may be less willing to come forward or assist with our enquiries if they were to believe that this information may become public knowledge and them identified. 

Public Interest Test

Factors favouring confirmation or denial:

The Police Service has a duty to conduct criminal investigations and by providing information held would help the public interest and provide transparency of policing operations. 

Factors against confirmation or denial:

The information requested may or may not be linked to an investigation(s). To merely acknowledge the existence of an enquiry would place sensitive information into the public domain. Furthermore, to provide information of this nature could compromise an investigation by making individuals aware of it, which in turn could lead to a change in behaviour that could impact upon the investigation.

Balance test:

The Police service will not divulge whether information is or is not held, if to do so would undermine law enforcement. When considering the public interest there is undoubtedly a call for openness and transparency with regard to the police service and this can be seen from the decision to, at times, publish details of incidents. That being said, this is only ever done when deemed safe to do so from a law enforcement perspective.  These factors need to be weighed against the very strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police enquiries/investigations. The police service relies heavily on the public providing information and the public have an expectation that any information they provide will be treated with confidence. Anything that puts that confidence at risk would have a serious detrimental effect on the police service. In this case, to confirm or deny whether information is or isn’t held would undermine law enforcement and/or any investigative processes that may or may not have occurred.

It is therefore the opinion of Dyfed-Powys Police that for these issues the balancing test for confirming or not that information is held is not made out.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 16/07/2025)