Immigration incidents and arrests 378/2022
FOI Reference: 378/2022
Request:
1a) The number of immigration raids participated in by members of your force in each year from 2017 to 2022 (inclusive). (By "participated", I mean to include the raids carried out solely by members of your force, and those in support of Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE). If it is possible to indicate the number where the force was supporting ICE and the number carried out solely by police, please do so, but if this would exceed the FOIA cost exemption then an overall figure will suffice).
1b) The number of arrests for immigration offences carried out by your force in each year from 2017 to 2022 (inclusive).
2a) The number of officers who operated as plain clothes officers in each year from 2017 to 2022 (inclusive). If you hold the data for the total number of times officers were deployed as plain clothes officers in each year please include it, but if obtaining this would exceed the time/cost exemption under FOIA then a total number of officers for each year will suffice.
2b) The number of unmarked vehicles owned by your force in each year from 2017 to 2022 (inclusive). For the purposes of this question, "unmarked" refers to the vehicles equipped for police deployments.
Clarification requested:
1i) Please can provide us with a specific definition of ‘plain clothes officers.’ – for example, CID don’t wear uniform. All detectives wear plain clothes as well as undercover officers.
1ii) As well as a specific definition of ‘deployed’ as this could mean every time an officer left a station.
1iii) “Un-Marked” please as we have CID type vehicles which are un-marked and have no police equipment except for a force radio and we have un-marked patrol vehicles which have all police equipment as in blue lights/siren etc.
Clarification received:
1i) I was referring to undercover officers or those who would otherwise wear uniform, not detectives.
1ii) This does not mean every time an officer left the station, I meant to go on patrol or to do police work, i.e. work undercover.
1iii) I meant unmarked patrol vehicles equipped, as you suggest, with blue lights/sirens etc.
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 11,484.25 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 the information requested in relation to your request regarding ‘immigration raids’ during the period 2017 – 2022 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 it is not recorded in an easily retrievable format, when ‘immigration raids’ participated in by Dyfed-Powys police are involved as part of warrant and would individual interrogation of each intelligence record to establish the information requested.
In order to do this, it is estimated it would take approximately 3 minutes to review each record, of which there are 229,685 between 1st January 2017 and 3rd May 2022.
The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
|
Year |
number of records |
Time to review |
total |
|
2017 |
41,859 |
3 minutes |
2092.95 |
|
2018 |
43,272 |
3 minutes |
2163.6 |
|
2019 |
40,192 |
3 minutes |
2009.6 |
|
2020 |
44,358 |
3 minutes |
2217.9 |
|
2021 |
43,826 |
3 minutes |
2191.3 |
|
2022 (to 03/05/2022) |
16,178 |
3 minutes |
808.9 |
|
Total |
229,685 |
|
11484.25 |
Therefore, total time estimate to complete request = 11484.25 hours
Remaining Questions:
It is estimated that question’s 1b and 2 could be retrieved within the 18 hour time limit, however relevant exemptions may apply.
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.
This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on the 14th June 2022.