Friday 22nd May 2009

Dear Ms Dewsbury,

FOI Reference No: FOI-20091/79142

I write in connection with your request for information dated 20th April 2009 and listed below. Your request for information has now been considered and the information asked for under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is as follows:

Please supply the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.

1) How many people were arrested for soliciting prostitutes or kerb crawling by West Yorkshire police in each month of 2008?

3) Of those arrested in each month the number who were

a) released without charge

b) cautioned

c) charged

d) fined

e) If none of the above can be applied to each arrest I would like to know how the crime was dealt with

CLARIFICATION
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In response to the first query you raised, I would like to know the statistics for clients only.

For the second query please could you say how many clients have been fined in court?
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These statistics relate to offences under sections 1 and 2 of the Sexual offences Act 1985:

- Persistently soliciting a person or persons for prostitution from, or having just left, a motor vehicle (kerb crawling)

- Persistently soliciting a person or persons for prostitution.

As pre your clarification, data has been restricted to clients as opposed to prostitutes.

Police forces providing information do not use generic systems, nor are the procedures used for capturing the data the same. It should be noted that for these reasons this forces response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request. This is due to a large volume of Freedom of Information requests currently being dealt with by West Yorkshire Police

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

If you are not satisfied with how this request has been handled or with the information provided, please read the advice notice attached to this letter. If you do wish to take up your right of complaint, please remember to quote the reference number above in any future correspondence.

Yours sincerely

Claire Vickers-Pearson

Freedom of Information Project Officer

pp Steven Harding

Head of Information Management

The West Yorkshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed information will continue to be protected by law.  Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of the attached information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, West Yorkshire Police Headquarters, PO Box 9, Laburnum Road, Wakefield WF1 3QP.