Our Ref: 165-08-571
Your Ref:
Mr Nick Henderson
By e mail
[email address]
Information Access Team
Surrey Police H.Q
01483 630007
9th January 2009
Dear Mr Henderson
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 165-08-571
I write in connection with your request for information received on 24th October 2008.
I have repeated your questions below for ease of reference.
1a. The total number of homophobic hate crimes reported to you in the last year?
b. The last three years?
2a.The total number of those hate crimes that were reported to the Crown
prosecution Service in the last year?
b. The last three years?
A1a-b.
We have provided you with a response as below.
It is worth noting that offenders are charged as opposed to crimes, with some crimes
having more than one offender, and one offender being responsible for more than one
crime. Sanctioned detections in the period may relate to crimes that happened before
the period in question.
Total Homophobic crimes recorded:
Rolling year to 31st October 08 = 86
Rolling year to 31st October 07 = 91
Rolling year to 31st October 06 = 143
Rolling year to 31st October 05 = 147
Total Homophobic crime sanctioned detections,
Rolling year to 31st October 08 = 26
Rolling year to 31st October 07 = 43
Rolling year to 31st October 06 = 53
Rolling year to 31st October 05 = 27
Police Headquarters, Mount Browne, Sandy Lane, Guildford, Surrey, GU3 1HG
Tel 01483 630007
Fax 01483 634911
Email [email address]
Website www.surrey.police.uk
Outcomes of Homophobic crime offenders from crimes within the period - PLEASE
NOTE many crimes will be detected and dealt with after the event and in another
reporting year.
Rolling year to 31st October 08
Charged/Summons = 19
Cautioned = 12
Fixed Penalty Notice = 1
Rolling year to 31st October 07
Charged/Summons = 27
Cautioned = 21
Fixed Penalty Notice = 7
Rolling year to 31st October 06
Charged/Summons = 23
Cautioned = 20
Fixed Penalty Notice = 3
TIC = 1
Rolling year to 31st October 05
Charged/Summons = 31
Cautioned = 12
A2a-b Surrey Police has no requirement to record such a breakdown of the
information requested. The number of crimes that go to the CPS during a specific
period will not be representative of the crimes reported during the same period. Many
will be referred to the CPS in the following period.
The Freedom of Information Act is concerned solely with potential disclosure of
information already held in a reasonably readily retrievable format. To acquire the
information requested would involve the creation of new data, which is not required by
the Act, as each record/report/ investigation would have to be traced and examined
one at a time.
The time and cost involved to go through each record to provide the information
requested 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.
In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter
represents a Refusal Notice for this part of your request.
I bring to your attention that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required
to provide 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 data. The data warehouse is a "live" system
and is subject to change as incidents are finalised. In other words, incidents may be
initially recorded under a specific category but change with new information. 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.
Surrey Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its
review procedure. How to do this is set out in the attached Appeals Notice. Having
followed the full procedure, if you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct
your comments to the Information Commissioner who will give your case
consideration.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Surrey Police.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or contact
us on 01483 - 630007 quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Carolyn Mullen Information Access Co-ordinator.
