Domestic abuse & neighbourhood calls 742/2022
FOI Reference: 742/2022
Request:
I am a journalist with BBC News, and I would like to request information regarding police response to domestic abuse and neighbourhood crime-related 999 calls. If you believe this request could exceed the time/cost limit, please prioritise the most recent years and work backwards until the time/cost limit is reached.
Of 999 calls reporting domestic abuse:
1/ Please provide the median annual police response time (in seconds) to attend 999 calls reporting domestic abuse categorised as
(i) grade 1 emergency,
(ii) grade 2,
(iii) grade 3, and
(iv) all grades, for each financial year from 2017-18 up to and including the current financial year until 31 Aug 2022.
Please also provide the total annual number of calls, target response time, and number of emergency incidents responded to within target time for each part of the question (i.e., by urgency grade).
Grades 1 to 3 typically refer to an emergency response, a prompt response and a routine response.
Please provide a description of the different grades (including expected response times to attend) used by the force if these differ.
An example for GMP is included here:
2/ Please provide the total number of occasions that police did not attend
- i) grade 1,
- ii) grade 2 or
iii) grade 3 emergencies for each financial year from 2017-18 up to and including the current financial year until 31 Aug 2022.
3/ Please provide the longest individual time taken to attend a grade 1 and 2 ‘priority’ emergency calls or equivalent for each financial year from 2017-18 up to and including the current financial year until 31 Aug 2022.
4/ If possible within the cost/time limits, I would also like to know: How many domestic abuse incidents were subsequently recorded as domestic abuse crimes? Please do not include this question in the request if you think it would hit the cost limits, or engage any other exemption.
Of 999 calls reporting domestic burglary, vehicle-related crime, theft from the person and robbery:
5/ Please group these crime types together and provide the same information requested in questions 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Please provide annual data for each of the last financial years, from 2017-18 up to the current financial year until 31 Aug 2022. If possible, please provide the answers in csv or xlsx format.
Suggested tables:
For each of the crime types requested (i.e., domestic abuse on one hand, and domestic burglary, vehicle-related crime, theft from the person and robbery grouped together on the other), below are some suggested tables to structure the response:
Domestic abuse
Table 1: Median Response Time (Seconds) for 999 calls reporting domestic abuse, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022)
Table 2: Count of Total 999 calls reporting domestic abuse, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
Table 3: Count of Total 999 calls reporting domestic abuse with No Response, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
Table 4: Target response time, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
Table 5: Number of 999 calls reporting domestic abuse responded to within target time, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
Table 6: Longest Response Time (Seconds) for an I (Immediate) Graded Emergency Incident, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
Table 7: Longest Response Time (Seconds) for an II (Prompt) Graded Emergency Incident, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
Same tables for domestic burglary, vehicle-related crime, theft from the person and robbery (grouped together).
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 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. approximately 7,675 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @
www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm
The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in relation to questions1, 3, 4, 5 and table 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the request is not held in an easily retrievable format.
Question 1, 3, 5, Table 5, 6, 7 & 8.
The Department responsible for providing the data have stated that in order to establish the response times and attendance, each report would require manual investigation.
It has been estimated that it would take 10 minutes to obtain the information per record. The time estimate is broken down below:
2017/18 – 2,955 records x 10 minutes per record = 492.5 hours
2018/19 – 3,288 records x 10 minutes per record = 548 hours
2019/20 – 3,681 records x 10 minutes per record = 613.5 hours
2020/21 – 3,652 records x 10 minutes per record = 608.7 hours
2021/22 – 4,235 records x 10 minutes per record = 705.8 hours
Total time to complete task (17,811 records x 10 minutes per record) = 2,969 hours
Question 4.
The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in relation to question 4 of the request is not held in an easily retrievable format.
This is due to the fact that the each record would need checking to establish if a crime has been recorded as a result of a call to police.
2017-2018: 3,848 crime records x 10 minutes per record = 641 hrs
2018 2019: 5,277 crime records x 10 minutes per record = 879 hrs
2019-2020: 6,552 crime records x 10 minutes per record = 1,092 hrs
2020-2021: 8,689 crime records x 10 minutes per record = 1,448 hrs
2021-2022: 3,875 crime records x 10 minutes per record = 646 hrs
Total time estimate to complete question 4 (28,241 crime records x 10 minutes per record) = 4,706 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.
Part Response 1:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
For part of your question, which is:
Grades 1 to 3 typically refer to an emergency response, a prompt response and a routine response.
Please provide a description of the different grades (including expected response times to attend) used by the force if these differ.
Immediate Response (within 20mins); Priority Response (within 1hr); Standard Response (in due course); Resolution Without Deployment. Grade 3 is not an emergency.
Part Response 2:
For your question: iii) grade 3 emergencies for each financial year from 2017-18 up to and including the current financial year until 31 Aug 2022. –
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Grade 3 is not an emergency. All Scheduled response calls are attended to, if they aren’t they would be downgraded to ‘Resolution without deployment’ and dealt with that way.
Part Response 5:
For part of your question, which is:
5/ Please group these crime types together and provide the same information requested in questions 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Please provide annual data for each of the last financial years, from 2017-18 up to the current financial year until 31 Aug 2022.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
|
Timeframe |
Domestic via 999 – immediate |
Domestic via 999 – Priority |
Domestic via 999-Standard |
|
01.04.17 – 31.03.18 |
2311 |
499 |
145 |
|
01.04.18 – 31.03.19 |
2485 |
608 |
195 |
|
01.04.19 – 31.03.20 |
2662 |
708 |
311 |
|
01.04.20 – 31.03.21 |
2773 |
625 |
254 |
|
01.04.21 – 31.03.22 |
3015 |
74 |
474 |
For your request - Table 3: Count of Total 999 calls reporting domestic abuse with No Response, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022).
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
|
Timeframe |
Domestic via 999 |
|
01.04.17 – 31.03.18 |
457 |
|
01.04.18 – 31.03.19 |
456 |
|
01.04.19 – 31.03.20 |
467 |
|
01.04.20 – 31.03.21 |
584 |
|
01.04.21 – 31.03.22 |
617 |
Please note: there is always a response to domestic abuse calls. The above table provides data for the calls categorised as C-Domestic but as Resolution without deployment (this is usually because it is a repeat call, or it could be for another force area).
For your request - Table 4: Target response time, by Urgency Grade, between 2017/18 and 2022/23 (up to 31 Aug 2022)
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Immediate response = within 20minutes
Priority Response = within 60minutes
Standard Response = in due course
Resolution = no attendance required
__________________________
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 12/12/2022)