Gay Hate Crimes

Dear Mr Walker ,

Reference No: SB40/09

Thank you for your application for information concerning gay hate crime. This will be dealt with under the terms
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request will now be considered and 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 nor containing a reference to a third party.
In the event that we are not able to achieve this deadline you will be informed at the earliest opportunity and
given a revised time-scale.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information you have requested. If this
is the case you will be informed and the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment from
you.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transfer 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.

Yours sincerely,

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst

Information Bureau
Merseyside Police
PO Box 59, Liverpool. L69 1JD
Telephone: 0151 777 7019 Fax: 0151 777 7099
Email : [Merseyside Police request email]

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This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

Reference: SB40/09

Dear Mr Walker

I write to request some clarification from yourself in relation to your
Freedom of Information request submitted to Merseyside Police below:

1) How many hate crimes against gay or lesbian people have been reported
this year to date in your area?

2) How many gay hate crimes have been reported in your area for the past 5
years for each year?

Regarding question 2 above, we have some data to hand in a financial year
format, would this be acceptable to you or do you require the data in a
calendar year format?

At present your application has currently been suspended pending the above
clarification from yourself, if the requested clarification has not been
received from yourself by one month after the above date, I will consider
that you no longer wish to proceed with this request and it will be treated
as withdrawn.

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Susie Blank

Disclosure Analyst
Merseyside Police
Information Bureau
PO BOX 59
LIVERPOOL
L69 1JD
Tel: 0151 777 7019
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

Reference: SB40/09

Dear Mr Walker,

Thank you for your clarification. Your request will now be considered under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act (2000) and you will receive the
information requested within the statutory time scale of 20 working days as
defined by the Act, subject to the information not being exempt or
containing reference to a third party.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collection and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed.
Yours faithfully,

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst
Merseyside Police

Information Bureau
PO Box 59
Liverpool
L69 1JD
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

Our Ref: SB40-09

Dear Mr Walker,

I write in connection with your request for information, received by
Merseyside Police on 6th November 2009 concerning:

(summary of request) Homophobic hate crime.

The public interest in providing a response to you is currently under
consideration.

The FOI Act obliges the Force to respond to requests promptly and in any
case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. The
decision maker must consider firstly whether the Force can comply with
section 1(1)(a) of the Act, which is our duty to confirm whether or not the
information requested is held and secondly we must comply with section 1
(1)(b), which is the provision of such information. It is estimated that is
will take an extra 12 working days to take a decision on where this balance
lies. Therefore the Force plans to let you have a response by 18/12/2009
If it appears that it will take longer than this to reach a conclusion, you
will be kept informed.

The application is currently with the senior decision maker who is
considering the disclosure application Therefore, this email acts as a
refusal notice under Section 17* of the Act.

*(non-provision of a response within the 20 working days as prescribed by
the Act constitutes a refusal).

As stated above it is the intention of the Force to provide you with a
respond to your request by the date stated.

Complaint information (See attached file: FOI Complaint Notice.doc)

Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience this delay may
cause you.

Yours faithfully

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst
Information Bureau

Merseyside Police
PO BOX 59
LIVERPOOL L69 1JD

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

Dear Mr Walker,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: SB40/09

I write in connection with your request for information dated, and received
by Merseyside Police on 06/11/09. I note you seek access to the following
information:

1) How many hate crimes against gay or lesbian people have been reported
this year to date in your area?

2) How many gay hate crimes have been reported in your area for the past 5
years for each year?

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within
Merseyside Police to locate information relevant to your request. I can
confirm that the information you have requested is held by Merseyside
Police.

Extent of searches to locate information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted
at the Citizen Focus Department - Diversity Team.

Result of searches
The searches located records relevant to your request.

Decision
I have decided to:

Disclose information in relation to Q1 and the financial years 2007/08 &
2008/09 in relation to question 2 of your request.
Exempt information in relation to the financial years 2004/05, 2005/06 &
2006/07 per Section 12 of the Act (Cost & Time), please see ‘reason
for decision’ below.

Reason for Decision
The cost of providing you with the information 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. It is estimated
that it would cost in excess of £450 to comply with your request. In
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a
Refusal Notice.

Please find attached a table outlining my response in greater detail.

(See attached file: Response Table V2.doc)

Complaint Rights
Your attention is drawn to the attachment, which details your right of
complaint.

(See attached file: Complaints info.doc)

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

Yours sincerely

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst
Merseyside Police

Information Bureau
PO Box 59
Liverpool
L69 1JD
Tel: 0151 777 7019
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================