Arrests in Schools

The request was refused by Essex Police.

Hi there,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act.

1. Please could you disclose the number of arrests made by your police force in schools of a) students and b) staff in the calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020?

2. Please could you disclose the ethnicity of those arrested in each of the above years?

3. Please could you disclose the number of charges that were made as a result of those arrest in each of the above years (if any), including what the charges were?

4. Please could you disclose the ethnicity of those charged in each of the above years?

Thanks,
Ruby Lott-Lavigna

Info Rights Freedom Essex, Essex Police

1 Attachment

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference. 

 

Please note that Essex Police are actively publishing information within
our publication scheme webpage, information supplied as part of this
request could be used within the scheme.  Please click on the following
link to search details of existing publications
[3]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac....

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20
working days.  The Act does not specify a limit to the number of
information requests a public authority may receive or the number of
requests or questions an applicant may submit.  However, there are
exemptions in the Act that can apply and these include where the cost of
complying with the request would extend beyond the reasonable cost limit,
(currently 18 hours or £450), or if the request is otherwise manifestly
unreasonable in its scope or nature. 

 

Requests that ask a great many questions, or a number of detailed requests
submitted at the same time, may make it necessary for Essex Police to
refuse the requests wholly or in part.  The exemption at Section 14 may be
engaged if the burden on the authority is increased through multiple
requests on differing subjects.

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has responsibility for
providing oversight and guidance for the legislation and they have
produced advice for applicants on submitting effective requests.  Further
information can be found on the Commissioner’s website at
[4]www.ico.gov.uk, specific information relating to submitting a request
can be found at: 
[5]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...

 

While we process your request, please take the time to consider the ICO’s
advice and whether you feel it may be beneficial to amend or refine your
request.  Our team is happy to discuss your request with you and will be
able to provide advice as to what kind of information will be available
from Essex Police.

 

Although every effort will be made to ensure a response is provided within
statutory deadlines, due to current circumstances, delays may be
unavoidable.  We apologise for any inconvenience and will endeavour to
process your request as quickly as is practicable.

 

Please ensure all future enquiries are sent to the
[6][Essex Police request email] mailbox.

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

FOI Team | Information Management Department | Information Rights Section
| Essex Police

Telephone: 101 | Email: [7][Essex Police request email]

Address: Information Management Department, Information Rights Section,
Essex Police HQ, PO Box 2, Chelmsford CM2 6DA  (for Sat Nav directions,
use CM2 6DN for HQ)

 

Information Management aspires to be: Helpful, Inclusive & Professional

 

Essex Police have developed a publication strategy, our aim is to reduce
the demand within the FOI Department and to provide knowledge to the
public to include previous and combined FOI requests together with
relevant links and information.

 

Please visit this area of our website before submitting FOI requests as
information may already be available.

 

[8]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac...

Please note, if you require further information or wish to resubmit a
request please refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s
website regarding submission of effective requests:
[9]https://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/of...

 

Your right to complain

 

If you feel your request has not been properly handled, or you are
otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you have the right
to complain.

 

Complaints should be submitted within 20 working days from the date of
this response and should be addressed to the Senior Information Officer at
the above address or by email to: [10]info.rights.freedom@essex. police.uk

 

We will conduct a review to investigate your complaint and endeavour to
reply within 20 working days.

 

Please explain which aspect of the reply you are not satisfied with, and
if your complaint concerns the decision to apply an exemption it would
assist the review if you would outline why you believe the exemption does
not apply.

 

If you are still dissatisfied following our review, you have the right
under Section 50 of the Act to complain directly to the Information
Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information
Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints
procedures provided by Essex Police.

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [11]https://ico.org.uk/

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Info Rights Freedom Essex, Essex Police

2 Attachments

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference.

 

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties
on public authorities.  Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section
1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a
request is held.  The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose
information that has been confirmed as being held.  Where exemptions are
relied upon Section 17 of the FOIA requires that we provide the applicant
with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in
question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the
exemption applies.

 

In respect of your enquiry:

1. Please could you disclose the number of arrests made by your police
force in schools of a) students and b) staff in the calendar years 2017,
2018, 2019 and 2020?

2. Please could you disclose the ethnicity of those arrested in each of
the above years?

3. Please could you disclose the number of charges that were made as a
result of those arrest in each of the above years (if any), including what
the charges were?

4. Please could you disclose the ethnicity of those charged in each of the
above years?

 

Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section
1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request,
however, the obligation of Section 1(1)(b) cannot be met as Essex Police
does not hold all the information requested in a format that allows it to
be retrieved within the time and cost limits of FOI.

 

When responding to a request for information under the terms of the FOIA,
a public authority is not obliged to provide information if the authority
estimates that the cost of the retrieval of the information requested
would be in excess of £450 (equivalent to 18 hours work).  The costs
criteria relates to a request in its entirety, which means that if we
cannot retrieve all of the information requested within the costs limit,
we are not obliged to retrieve any of the information requested.

 

Section 12(1) of the FOIA states that a public authority is not obliged
to:

 

“…comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that
the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate
limit.”

 

The following explanation outlines the difficulty Essex Police has in
answering your request:

 

Essex Police are unable to accurately extract the level of detail in
relation to how many sexual offences were recorded where the offender's or
victim’s occupation was recorded as a student as there is a known system
issue regarding the current occupation of individuals.  Essex Police are
unable to provide crime data by occupation due to system constraints. 
Occupations are not currently returned in an accurate format and in
addition the occupation at the time of the crime cannot be identified if
the occupation has changed.  Therefore, we would not be able to tell if
the individual was a student when they were an offender/victim for one of
these offences.  There is also no field to indicate if the offender/victim
was a student.  Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the
management of individual cases and not primarily for the production of
statistical information.  This request would entail manually extracting
the requested data in relation to offences for rape, indecent assault, etc
and reviewing each record one by one as there is currently no search
engine available.  This process would exceed the time and cost limits
under the FOIA and would also qualify as the creation of data as the
results cannot be processed by means of purely sorting or filtering data
sources or running a database query tool. There is no requirement under
the act to create data purely to answer FOI requests.

 

Consequently and to this extent, Essex Police are exempt from the duty to
provide information you have requested under the provisions of Section
12(1) of the FOIA.  Therefore, and in accordance with Section 17(1) of the
FOIA, this communication must act as a refusal notice to provide all of
the information that could be interpreted as being captured by this part
of your request.

 

Section 16(1) of the FOIA provides that a public authority is required to
provide advice and assistance, Essex Police can confirm that we can
provide data based on the Home Office Counting Rules regarding offences,
if of use.  Offences are more likely to be extracted from our systems
together with outcomes and age/gender if required.  Please see below link:

 

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

 

In respect of the above request although you can refine and resubmit your
request to those arrested where the age of the individual is below 16
years of age or above 16 years of age. Please note that arrest data cannot
be compared to offence data as you may be arrested for one offence but
charged with another. It is suggested that more reliable data can be based
on offence data and where the perpetrator age is below 16 or above 16,
again see the HOCR for offence titles.

 

Thank you for your interest in Essex Police and we are sorry that we have
not been able to provide the information you have requested on this
occasion.  If you do require further information a new request will need
to be submitted and the request will be dealt with accordingly.

 

Kind regards

 

 

FOI Team | Information Management Department | Information Rights Section
| Essex Police

Telephone: 101 | Email: [2][Essex Police request email]

Address: Information Management Department, Information Rights Section,
Essex Police HQ, PO Box 2, Chelmsford CM2 6DA  (for Sat Nav directions,
use CM2 6DN for HQ)

 

Information Management aspires to be: Helpful, Inclusive & Professional

 

Essex Police have developed a publication strategy, our aim is to reduce
the demand within the FOI Department and to provide knowledge to the
public to include previous and combined FOI requests together with
relevant links and information.

 

Please visit this area of our website before submitting FOI requests as
information may already be available.

 

[3]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac...

Please note, if you require further information or wish to resubmit a
request please refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s
website regarding submission of effective requests:
[4]https://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/of...

 

Your right to complain

 

If you feel your request has not been properly handled, or you are
otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you have the right
to complain.

 

Complaints should be submitted within 20 working days from the date of
this response and should be addressed to the Senior Information Officer at
the above address or by email to: [5]info.rights.freedom@essex. police.uk

 

We will conduct a review to investigate your complaint and endeavour to
reply within 20 working days.

 

Please explain which aspect of the reply you are not satisfied with, and
if your complaint concerns the decision to apply an exemption it would
assist the review if you would outline why you believe the exemption does
not apply.

 

If you are still dissatisfied following our review, you have the right
under Section 50 of the Act to complain directly to the Information
Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information
Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints
procedures provided by Essex Police.

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [6]https://ico.org.uk/

 

 

From: Info Rights Freedom Essex
Sent: 19 March 2021 13:21
To: James Clifton <[FOI #738225 email]>
Subject: RE: FOI 15494 Arrests/Charges - Students/Staff in Schools
2017-2020

 

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference. 

 

Please note that Essex Police are actively publishing information within
our publication scheme webpage, information supplied as part of this
request could be used within the scheme.  Please click on the following
link to search details of existing publications
[7]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac....

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20
working days.  The Act does not specify a limit to the number of
information requests a public authority may receive or the number of
requests or questions an applicant may submit.  However, there are
exemptions in the Act that can apply and these include where the cost of
complying with the request would extend beyond the reasonable cost limit,
(currently 18 hours or £450), or if the request is otherwise manifestly
unreasonable in its scope or nature. 

 

Requests that ask a great many questions, or a number of detailed requests
submitted at the same time, may make it necessary for Essex Police to
refuse the requests wholly or in part.  The exemption at Section 14 may be
engaged if the burden on the authority is increased through multiple
requests on differing subjects.

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has responsibility for
providing oversight and guidance for the legislation and they have
produced advice for applicants on submitting effective requests.  Further
information can be found on the Commissioner’s website at
[8]www.ico.gov.uk, specific information relating to submitting a request
can be found at: 
[9]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...

 

While we process your request, please take the time to consider the ICO’s
advice and whether you feel it may be beneficial to amend or refine your
request.  Our team is happy to discuss your request with you and will be
able to provide advice as to what kind of information will be available
from Essex Police.

 

Although every effort will be made to ensure a response is provided within
statutory deadlines, due to current circumstances, delays may be
unavoidable.  We apologise for any inconvenience and will endeavour to
process your request as quickly as is practicable.

 

Please ensure all future enquiries are sent to the
[10][Essex Police request email] mailbox.

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

FOI Team | Information Management Department | Information Rights Section
| Essex Police

Telephone: 101 | Email: [11][Essex Police request email]

Address: Information Management Department, Information Rights Section,
Essex Police HQ, PO Box 2, Chelmsford CM2 6DA  (for Sat Nav directions,
use CM2 6DN for HQ)

 

Information Management aspires to be: Helpful, Inclusive & Professional

 

Essex Police have developed a publication strategy, our aim is to reduce
the demand within the FOI Department and to provide knowledge to the
public to include previous and combined FOI requests together with
relevant links and information.

 

Please visit this area of our website before submitting FOI requests as
information may already be available.

 

[12]https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/ac...

Please note, if you require further information or wish to resubmit a
request please refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s
website regarding submission of effective requests:
[13]https://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/of...

 

Your right to complain

 

If you feel your request has not been properly handled, or you are
otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you have the right
to complain.

 

Complaints should be submitted within 20 working days from the date of
this response and should be addressed to the Senior Information Officer at
the above address or by email to: [14]info.rights.freedom@essex. police.uk

 

We will conduct a review to investigate your complaint and endeavour to
reply within 20 working days.

 

Please explain which aspect of the reply you are not satisfied with, and
if your complaint concerns the decision to apply an exemption it would
assist the review if you would outline why you believe the exemption does
not apply.

 

If you are still dissatisfied following our review, you have the right
under Section 50 of the Act to complain directly to the Information
Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information
Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints
procedures provided by Essex Police.

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [15]https://ico.org.uk/

 

 

 

show quoted sections