Homeowners detaining suspects 75/2022
FOI Reference: 75.2022
Request:
(all between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2021):
1. Number of instances where homeowners used any legal weapon (e.g. hands, legs with feet, criminal identifier tag spray, etc) to restrain a criminal who deliberately entered their property without consent with the criminal intent of physically harming the homeowner and/or stealing their property until the arrival of the police.
2. Number of instances where homeowners used any legal weapon (e.g. hands, legs with feet, criminal identifier tag spray, etc) to kill a criminal who deliberately entered their property without consent with the criminal intent on physically harming the homeowner and/or stealing their property.
3. Number of instances where homeowners used any partially illegal weapon (i.e. crossbows) or illegal weapon (i.e. knives, guns, etc) to injure a criminal who deliberately entered their property without consent with the criminal intent on physically harming the homeowner and/or stealing their property.
4. Number of instances where homeowners used any partially illegal weapon (i.e. crossbows) or illegal weapon (i.e. knives, guns, etc) to kill a criminal who deliberately entered their property without consent with the criminal intent on physically harming the homeowner and/or stealing their property.
5. Number of instances where homeowners were arrested for legally using reasonable force against the criminal(s) deliberately intent on physically harming them and/or stealing their property.
6. Number of instances where homeowners were arrested for using what was either deemed or proven to be excessive force against the criminal(s) deliberately intent on physically harming them and/or stealing their property.
7. Number of instances where homeowners were convicted of using excessive force against the criminal(s) deliberately intent on physically harming them and/or stealing their property.
8. Number of instances where homeowners were cleared of using excessive force against the criminal(s) deliberately intent on physically harming them and/or stealing their property by injuring and/or killing them.
Ideally, can the amount of times the instances mentioned above in the first 4 questions be written about separately based on the use of each individual weapon? I will accept any message to me stating that there may need to be more time beyond the deadline in order to acquire and publish the data.
Clarification request
Are you referring to incidents or crimes? Please note an incident is different from a crime. An incident is a record of contact made to a police force by an individual/member of public (usually via a 999 or 101 call) and a crime is where the threshold has been met for the police force to deem that a criminal offence has occurred as defined by law.
Clarification received:
I would overall define these instances as a crime as you have mentioned in the reply. However, as stated in the original request, I would also like information on the amount of homeowners not charged by police with defending themselves against violent criminals in their homes.
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 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.
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 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 3,821.5 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 Unit has been advised that information requested in relation to your request regarding home owners protecting their property 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 this information isn’t routinely recorded and we are unable to carry out a ‘keyword’ search for the information you have requested.
The information may be held within the crime, however this would require a review of each relevant crime for the period 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2021 inclusive. It is also unlikely a trespasser would report a complaint unless a serious incident had occurred.
For the time period given, we have been advised by the relevant department that there are 22,929 crime records that would require review, each taking approximately 10 minutes to review. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
1st January 2000 to 31st December 2021 = 22,929 records x 10 mins = 3,821.5 hours
Therefore, total time estimate to complete whole request = 3,821.5 hours
The above time estimate can be averaged at a total 347.41 hours per year.
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.
If your query related to arrests under specific legislation, this information may be available within the time frame
Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 18th February 2022.