Police costs

Dear Mr Raper-Smith,

Enquiry Ref : 2009/2242

I acknowledge receipt of your enquiry of the 18th of December 2009 requesting information concerning Police Costs.

Please note that after your question 3 you include a "furthermore..." which is in relation to Accidents and not costs and hence will be dealt with as a separate request.

As set out by the Freedom of Information Act it will be our aim to respond to your request by 20 January 2010. In some cases, however, we may be unable to achieve this deadline. If this occurs we will advise you of the likely timescale within which the response will be provided.

If you have any questions regarding your request please contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Conlin
FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information
Cleveland Police
Wetherby House
Tel 01642 306825

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Dear Mr Raper-Smith,

Enquiry Ref : 2009/2243

I acknowledge receipt of your E mail dated 18 December 2009 requesting information asking: For 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 to date, I'd like to know how many traffic accidents patrol
cars have been involved in, how many times the police were at fault for the accidents and what percentage of accidents were whilst the police vehicle was on an priority call (sirens and blue
lights).

To help us identify the information you require I would be grateful if you would provide me with the following information.

In your request you refer to "Patrol Cars" could you please expand on this and explain which Police vehicles you with me to consider, since as you will appreciate this could be open to interpretation and I would not wish to conduct unnecessary research or consider providing information which is not of use to you.

To enable us to respond to your request please provide the details requested above or alternatively indicate how we may otherwise assist you. Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your request until we have received this information.

If you would like to discuss this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Conlin
FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information
Cleveland Police
Wetherby House
Tel 01642 306825

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Dear Mr Raper-Smith,

Enquiry 2009/2243

Thank you for your Clarification re the vehicles to be considered in your request.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Conlin
FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information
Cleveland Police
Wetherby House
Tel 01642 306825

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Dear Mr Raper-Smith,

Enquiry 2009/2242 - Police costs

Enquiry Ref : 2009/2242

Regarding your question 2 below:
2. Police vehicle repairs, I'd like to know how much it costs annually in relation to money spent on the repairs, upgrades, etc on police vehicles.

I have been asked to seek clarification as to what you determine as "upgrades".

To enable us to respond to this part of your request please provide the details requested above or alternatively indicate how we may otherwise assist you. Unfortunately we will be unable to respond to this piece of your request until we have received this information.

If you would like to discuss this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Conlin
FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information
Cleveland Police
Wetherby House
Tel 01642 306825

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Dear Mr Raper-Smith,

Enquiry Ref : 2009/2242

I write in connection with your request for information dated 18 December 2009 concerning Cleveland Police Costs.

Regarding your below questions

1. Police uniform, I'd like to know how much annually is spent on
replacement uniforms, tailoring costs, etc.
2. Police vehicle repairs, I'd like to know how much it costs
annually in relation to money spent on the repairs, upgrades, etc
on police vehicles.
3. Criminal damage, I'd like to know how much Cleveland Police has
lost annually in relation to all types of criminal damage that has
resulted in something to be repaired or replaced.
And subsequent clarification re the term "Upgrades" by it I
meant that anything that may be required for a police vehicle to
function more effectively, i.e do traffic police cars have to have
more effective tyres than the standard ones the car comes with,
does it need more refined engine parts? Any sort of modification
that police cars may need to be more efficient for the job.

Having made enquiries into the subjects of your request I'm able to provide the following information.

For uniforms and Clothing:
2004 = £269,152
2005 = £498,982
2006 = £340,468
2007 = £433,182
2008 = £436,111
2009 = £189,003 figures in to date.
Please note that these figures are for total costs associated with uniform including the initial supply.

Regarding question 2, our Police vehicles arrive partly commissioned upon supply and it is not possible to extract from these figures what element would be for anything which could fulfil your criteria for upgrades. For repairs this is coded along with maintenance, so I have obtained the separate costs for Repairs & Maintenance Labour and Repairs & Maintenance parts.

2004 = £168,184 & £143,327 = Total £311,511
2005 = £198,758 & £181,611 = Total £380,369
2006 = £189,561 & £164,837 = Total £354,398
2007 = £218,673 & £197,302 = Total £415,975
2008 = £208,058 & £163,196 = Total £371,254
2009 = £131,608 & £122,278 = Total £253,888 Figures in to date.

For your question 3, this is not a figure which we have separately recorded, or for which we have any data base which can be searched explicitly for Cleveland Police Property, for criminal Damage to be examined on the crimes system we would have in the region of 1200 criminal damage crimes to be individually examined for each year and from experience I'm aware that when it comes to value of property damaged "Not Known" or a blank is encountered, therefore the value for the year again could not be ascertained.
One point of note is the fact that contained within the replies for both Q1 and Q2 will be an element of criminal damage for both uniforms and vehicle costs. I am sorry I can not help you further on this question.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request that we review your case under our review procedure. If you decide to request that such a review is undertaken and following this process you are still dissatisfied you then have the right to direct your complaint to the Information Commissioner for consideration.

If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Conlin
FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information
Cleveland Police
Wetherby House
Tel 01642 306825

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Dear Mr Raper-Smith,

Enquiry Ref : 2009/2243

I write in connection with your request for information dated 18 December 2009 concerning Police Accidents.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing a response to your request; I hope this has not been of inconvenience to you, your patience is appreciated.

You asked:
The years I require the information for relate to 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 to date.
Furthermore, I'd like to know how many traffic accidents patrol cars have been involved in, how many times the police were at fault for the accidents and what percentage of accidents were whilst the police vehicle was on an priority call (sirens and blue lights).

You then Clarified: In terms of patrol car I relate to cars which are fitted out with sirens and lights, so including unmarked Police vehicle as long as they have the necessary equipment to pursue or get to situation quickly.

Having made enquiries into your request I have encountered a number of problems relating the recovery of data specific to the points of your request, in that the information available is not on any one database and is not consistent throughout the period of your request. The result being that to recover all the information you seek would require the locating and examination of each individual Accident.
At Cleveland Police we record Police Vehicle incidents (PVI's) with this system being adopted at the beginning of 2005. PVI's cover, Road traffic collisions, Criminal Damage, found damage, pursuits (damage or not) and Collisions involving the public and or roadside furniture, etc due to the presence of a Police vehicle.

Therefore to recover the requested data from our records would require excess of the appropriate time stipulated by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer on the 18th Of October 2004, that is, eighteen hours. This falls under the exemption of 'Compliance exceeding the appropriate limit' covered by Section 12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and as such this work could not be undertaken.

Although excess cost/compliance exceeding the appropriate time limit removes the Force's obligations under the freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill, I have supplied information below, relative to your request, retrieved or available from previous replies provided under the FOI Act, and enquiries made relative to the areas of your request. I hope that this is of help to you and note that it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remained of your request.

Importantly due to the volume of information covered under this request I am unable to state with any certainty that we do hold all the information you have requested as to establish this in itself would take in excess of the appropriate limit.

For the early years I have figures for all accidents involving a third party and including incidents such as kerbing, reversing into objects, tactical containments etc , however not being restricted to your definition of a Patrol Car and priority call being where the police vehicle was on response to an incident or in a pursuit situation :
2004 = 180
2005 = 181 with 66 on a priority call
2006 = 168 with 85 on a priority call

For PVI's:
2007 = 311 with 72 on a priority call
2008 = 276 with 58 on a priority call
2009 = 290 with 59 on a priority call

Please note that for a PVI in a pursuit situation this includes when it is Police Presence only and we have not been in collision with anything.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request that we review your case under our review procedure. If you decide to request that such a review is undertaken and following this process you are still dissatisfied you then have the right to direct your complaint to the Information Commissioner for consideration.

I hope the above is of help to you and if I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Conlin
FOI Decision Maker
Freedom of Information
Cleveland Police
Wetherby House
Tel 01642 306825

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