Assaults against police officers

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Our Ref: FOI 085-10

E-mail: [Tayside Police request email] for all correspondence
relating to FOI requests

I write to acknowledge receipt of your request for information under the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, received today.

Your request is now currently being processed by this department and under
the terms of this Act, there are 20 working days allowed to respond to you
following the date of receipt of your request. Please note, however, that
there may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information requested. You will be advised of this should a payment
be required and no information will be supplied prior to receipt of the
fee.

If you require any further information or assistance, please do not
hesitate to contact myself on 01382 596169.

Wendy Snedden
Freedom of Information Officer
Force Information & Intelligence Division
Tayside Police
Tel: 01382 596169
Fax: 01382 596048
Email: [1][Tayside Police request email]

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References

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1. mailto:[Tayside Police request email]

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Our Ref: FOI 085-10

E-Mail: [Tayside Police request email] for all correspondence
relating to FOI requests

Dear Mr Sloan

I refer to your request, received on 16 February 2010, seeking
information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, as
detailed in full below.

REQUEST:

Q1 The number of incidents as a Force you have recorded where a police
officer has been assaulted in the line of duty.

Q2 The number of these incidents the Force has issued alternative methods
of justice (eg Fixed Penalty Notice).

Q3 The number of these incidents the Force has reported to the Procurator
Fiscal.

Notes

(i) It would be most helpful if you could provide information in
relation to incidents treated as assaults at common law and also in terms
of Police (Scotland) Act 1967, S41(1)(a).

(ii) All the above information would be for the last complete 12 month
period that you have information available for.

Having considered your request in terms of the above Act, I would respond
as follows.

Question 1

In response to Question 1, I would advise you that during 2009, a total of
545 individuals were charged by Tayside Police with Police Assault, as per
the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 S41(1)(a) Assault (excluding obstruction
and resist arrest offences). Please note that this is based on the police
definition of assault, which also includes those occasions when police
officers are not actually injured.

Please also note that it may be the case that the same individual has been
charged with Police Assault on more than one occasion - each occasion will
be counted individually within the figure provided above.

I would further advise you that Police forces in the United Kingdom are
routinely required to provide crime 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 crime data. It should be noted that, for these
reasons, our response to your questions should not be used for comparison
purposes with any other response you may receive from any other Force.

I trust the enclosed information will be of assistance to you. However,
if you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, you are entitled, in the first instance, to request a review of the
decision made by the Force. Should you wish to request such review,
please write to me within 40 days of receiving this communication. I will
arrange for a senior officer, who has not been involved in my decision
making process, to conduct a review as required by the Act. If, after
having been informed of the review panel's decision, you are still not
satisfied, you are then entitled to apply to the Scottish Information
Commissioner for a decision. The contact details for Mr Dunion, the
Scottish Information Commissioner are Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16
9DS, telephone 01334 464610.

Regards,

Wendy Snedden
Freedom of Information Officer
Force Information & Intelligence Division
Tayside Police
Tel: 01382 596169
Fax: 01382 596048
Email: [1][Tayside Police request email]

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Tayside Police request email]