Homophobic hate crimes reported to police

(See attached file: Appeal Process for Freedom of Information.pdf)

27 October 2008

Nick Henderson

[FOI #3773 email]

Dear Mr Henderson,

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20080459

Thank you for your request for information in relation to:

[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.

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 or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances South Yorkshire Police 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

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will remain
unanswered.

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.

If you have any enquiries please contact the Information Compliance Unit on
the numbers below.

Yours faithfully,

Anna Massingham
Administration/Insurance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

Internal T/N

1797
1798

External T/N

0114 292 1797
0114 292 1798

South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination
of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to
request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full process
you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments
to Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

Email - [South Yorkshire Police request email]

Citizen Focus: Improving Satisfaction and Confidence is a Priority for the
Force
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Mr Nick Henderson

[FOI #3773 email]

12 November 2008

Dear Mr Henderson

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20080459

Thank you for your request for information regarding Homophobic Hate Crimes
Reported dated 24 October 2008, received by the Information Compliance Unit
at South Yorkshire Police on 24 October 2008. I note you seek access to
the following information:

[1a] the total number of homophobic hate crimes reported to you in
the last year

From October 2007 to September 2008 there were 88 crime recordable
offences on the South Yorkshire Police crime system where the MO
(Modus Operandi) has been recorded as “homophobic”.

[b] the last three years

From October 2005 to September 2008 there were 284 crime recordable
offences on the South Yorkshire Police crime system where the MO
(Modus Operandi) has been recorded as “homophobic”.

[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.

Your request for information has now been considered and I am not
obliged to supply the information you have requested. Section 17 of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires South Yorkshire Police,
when refusing to provide such information (because the information is
exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:

(a) states that fact;
(b) specifies the exemption in question and;
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the
exemption applies.

The following exemption applies to the disclosure of the information:

Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate
limit

I cannot provide this information as it is not held in an easily
retrievable format, and would involve a manual trawl of each crime
number to locate the paper file relating to that crime number and
finally a further trawl through each file to ascertain whether the
crime was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. The cost associated
with conducting the above trawl 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
(ACPO: Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004) (ACPOS: Freedom of Information (Fees for Required
Disclosure)(Scotland) Regulations 2004 and Freedom of Information
(Fees for disclosure under section 13)(Scotland) Regulations 2004).

I hope the information we have provided is of help to your enquiries and I
would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in South
Yorkshire Police.

Yours sincerely

Joelle White
Freedom of Information Officer
Information Compliance Unit
0114 292 1793

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required
to provide information and 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. It should be noted that for these reasons
this forces response to your questions should not be used for the
comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination
of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to
request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full process
you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments
to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

The South Yorkshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under
sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the
enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed
information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the
copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of the attached
information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, South Yorkshire
Police, Police Headquarters, Snig Hill, Sheffield, S3 8LY.(See attached
file: Appeal Process for Freedom of Information.pdf)

South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

Internal T/N
1793
1797
1795

External T/N
0114 292 1793
0114 292 1797
0114 292 1795

Email - [South Yorkshire Police request email]

Citizen Focus: Improving Satisfaction and Confidence is a Priority for the
Force

Nick Henderson
<request-3773-8e2
07118@whatdotheyk To
now.com> FOI requests at South Yorkshire
Police <[South Yorkshire Police request email]>
24/10/2008 23:04 cc

Subject
Freedom of Information request -
Homophobic hate crimes reported to
police

Dear Sir or Madam,

Could you please inform me of

[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.

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Nick Henderson

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