Aggregate Crime Statistics For Postcode NW6 7TN

Dear Mr. Robson

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2011110003153
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 21/11/2011.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

     "Please can you confirm the number of complaints listed on CAD and
CRIS related to the postcode NW6 7TN. the numbers should be split by CRIS
and CAD. Once these aggregate statistics are split into these high level
classifications please can you further classify them by recognised legal
type:
   
    - Offence against the person
    - Violent offence
    - Sexual offence
    - Offence against property
    - Antisocial behaviour
    - Other
   
    Thanks for your time and help."

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act).  You will receive a response within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject to
the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party.  In some circumstances the MPS may be unable to achieve this
deadline.  If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your right of
complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact me at the above e-mail address, quoting the reference number
above.

Yours sincerely

R. Loizou
Policy and Support Officer
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

Dear Mr Robson

Freedom of Information Act Request Reference No: 2011110003153
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 21/11/2011.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

·           "Please can you confirm the number of complaints listed on CAD
and  CRIS related to the postcode NW6 7TN. The numbers should be split  by
CRIS and CAD. Once these aggregate statistics are split into these high
level classifications please can you further classify them by recognised
legal type:        
- Offence against the person    
 - Violent offence    
 - Sexual offence    
- Offence against property    
- Antisocial behaviour    
- Other "

Please can you specify a time frame which my searches should focus on  i.e
January 2011 - until present date

After receiving your reply, your request will then be considered and you
will receive the information requested within the statutory timescale of
20 working days, subject to the information not being exempt or containing
a reference to a third party.

However, if the requested additional information has not been received by
20/12/2012 I will assume you no longer wish to proceed with this request
and will treat it as withdrawn.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet which details your right of
complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact Audeeba Ali on telephone number 02071613606 quoting the
reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

Audeeba Ali
Quality and Assurance Advisor
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

Dear Mr Robson

Freedom of Information Request Reference No:  2011110003153

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 21/11/2011.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

"Please can you confirm the number of complaints listed on CAD and CRIS
related to the postcode NW6 7TN. the numbers should be split by CRIS and
CAD. Once these aggregate statistics are split into these high level
classifications please can you further classify them by recognised legal
type:

*      Offence against the person
*      Violent offence
*      Sexual offence
*      Offence against property
*      Antisocial behaviour
*      Other"

You requested data for the last five years.

DECISION

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), this
letter represents a Refusal Notice under Section 17(1).  Please see the
legal annex for the sections of the Act that are referred to in this
letter.

The Metropolitan Police Service neither confirms nor denies that it holds
the information you requested as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply by virtue of the following
exemption:

REASON FOR DECISION

Section 40(5) - Personal Information / Absolute Exemption

A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both
the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable
for open publication. This is because, under Freedom of Information, any
information disclosed is released into the wider public domain,
effectively to the world, not just to one individual.

To confirm or deny whether personal information exists in response to your
request could publicly reveal information about an individual or
individuals, thereby breaching the right to privacy afforded to persons
under the Data Protection Act 1998. When confirming or denying that
information is held would breach an individual's rights under the Data
Protection Act 1998, Section 40(5) becomes an absolute exemption, and
there is no requirement for me to provide evidence of the prejudice that
would occur, or to conduct a public interest test.

I appreciate that the information taken on its own, i.e. X number of call
outs or offences relating to a specific postcode, may not reveal personal
data as this may be viewed as statistical information and the possibility
of one being identified is narrow. However, to confirm (or deny) that
information is held, taken together with information that may already be
in the public domain can be pieced together which would result in links
being made between the information and individuals, leading to subsequent
identifications. This is because although you have requested statistics,
albeit general statistics, they relate to specific postcode in a local
area and therefore there is a heightened chance that someone could be
identified. This would apply regardless of the number of call outs or
offences relating to a specific postcodes. By way of example, if during
the time period in a hypothetical scenario there was one call out then
only those individual's would know that such a call out occurred.
Similarly, in a hypothetical scenario there were ten call outs or offence
to those addresses within those postcodes only those involved would know
that such a call out or offence occurred.  If anyone can identify
individuals from this data then this would reveal personal data of an
individual. Equally in a hypothetical scenario where there is no
information held , because there had been no call outs or offences, and we
confirmed that this was the case, this would be equally unfair to the
subjects. In such cases I am of the opinion that there is a higher
threshold to safeguard personal privacy as the legitimate expectation
would be that any personal information would be treated confidentially and
not disclosed to the public should this information be held by the MPS.

Please note, this notice does not confirm or deny that the MPS holds the
information that you have requested.

If any such information is held it would be considered personal
information and may be requested under the Subject Access Provisions of
the Data Protection Act.  In order to make a Subject Access Request please
complete form 3019 (available from any MPS Station, or from
http://www.met.police.uk/information/req..., or by calling 020
7161 3500 - please select option 1).  Please note that a fee of £10.00 and
proof of identification is required to process a request. This process may
also take up to 40 days from receipt of your completed application.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

If you are dissatisfied with this response please read the attached paper
entitled Complaint Rights which explains how to contact the Information
Commissioner with your complaint.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me on 0207 161 3606 or at the address at the top of this letter,
quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Audeeba Ali
Quality and Assurance Advisor

LEGAL ANNEX:

Section 17 of the Act provides:

(1) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information,
is to any extent relying on a claim that any provision in part II relating
to the duty to confirm or deny is relevant to the request or on a claim
that information is exempt information must, within the time for complying
with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice which-
(a) states the fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question, and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption
applies.

s.40(5) FoIA provides:

The duty to confirm or deny-
(a) does not arise in relation to information which is (or if it were held
by the public authority would be) exempt information by virtue of
subsection (1), and
(b) does not arise in relation to other information if or to the extent
that either-
(i) the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation or denial
that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would (apart
from this Act) contravene any of the data protection principles or section
10 of the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998 or would do so if the
exemptions in section 33A(1) of that Act were disregarded, or
(ii) by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the [1998 c. 29.] Data
Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section 7(1)(a) of that
Act (data subject's right to be informed whether personal data being
processed).
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).