Arrests after Premiership football matches in London

Dear Mr. Wilkerson

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2010110003685
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 17/11/2010. I note you seek
access to the following information:

"Can you tell me how many arrests were made from September 2009 to May
2010 that would be considered to be related to football matches?
I would like figures for the Stamford Bridge, Upton Park, Craven Cottage,
Emirates Stadium and White Hart Lane.
I'd also like the average for a Saturday three o'clock fixture in the same
time period and an average for any fixtures that kick off later than 5pm
during that period."

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
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

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Dear Mr. Wilkerson

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2010110003685

I write in connection with your request for information which was
received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 17/11/2010. I note
you seek access to the following information:

* Can you tell me how many arrests were made from September 2009 to May
2010 that would be considered to be related to football matches?
a) I would like figures for the Stamford Bridge, Upton Park,
Craven Cottage, Emirates Stadium and White Hart Lane.
b) I'd also like the average for a
Saturday three o'clock fixture in the same time period and an average
for any fixtures that kick off later than 5pm during that period.

This letter is to inform you that it will not be possible to respond to
your request within the cost threshold. Under the Freedom of Information
act it is stated that if any part of the request is going to exceed the
appropriate limit this means that the whole request is exempt under s12 of
the act. In regard to your request part b (average number of arrests for
Saturday kick offs at 3pm and those after 5pm), this part of your request
this will exceed the appropriate limit alone. The custody system can be
interrogated to bring back arrests by day and time of arrest, however
there is no identifier that is used to flag up arrests which are related
to football matches. Therefore, the only way that we could provide figures
for arrests resulting from football matches is to manually check each
custody record for a reference to a football match. With an average of
25,000 arrests in any given month, a manual check of each of these to see
if they related to a football match at one of the named stadiums would
take in excess of 4000 hours for one month alone (this is based on a
trained analyst checking an average of 6 records an hour). Even if this
was done, identifying whether the arrest was related to a kick off at 3pm
or a kick off after 5pm would be entirely reliant on this information
being recorded on the custody record. It is likely that arrests for an
incident at a football match may occur some time after the event and also
in an entirely different location e.g. the accused home.

We estimate that the cost of complying with this request would exceed the
appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations
and for agencies outside central Government; this is set at **450.00.
This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours [at a
rate of **25 per hour] in determining whether the MPS holds the
information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts
as a Refusal Notice.

Section 17(5) of the Act provides:

(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information,
is relying on a claim that section 12 or 14 applies must, within the time
for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that
fact.

Section 12 of the Act provides:

(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a
request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

Under Section 16 (duty to assist) i would like to advise you of what we
could provide within the appropriate limit.

1. Number of arrests where the location of arrest was;
Stamford Bridge
Upton Park
Craven Cottage
Emirates Stadium
White Hart Lane

Please note that the location field is a free text field and so will only
pick up arrests where the location is stated as one of the named addresses
and spelt in exactly the same way. This may result in misleading counts of
arrests.

Under Section 16 (duty to assist) we are required to offer you the
opportunity to redefine your request within the cost limit. Therefore, we
invite you to redefine your request within three months from the date of
this letter. If we do not hear from you by 02/03/10 we will treat this
request as withdrawn.

If you wish to discuss redefining your request, please contact me on 0207
161 3131 or via email at [email address]

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 Fiona Poore on telephone number 0207 161 3131 quoting the
reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Fiona Poore
Performance Analyst
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

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