Assault on Police Constable

[Name Removed] made this Freedom of Information request to Surrey Police This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Surrey Police,

Please could you provide me with the following information from Jan 2018 - Dec 2018;

1) The number of Police Officers who were assaulted
1b) The types of assault - if possible - for example, spitting, physical assault etc.

2) The number of Police Officers who were operational during those dates.
2b) This will be used to calculate the ratio/percentile of assaults per officer.

I am grateful for any support you could offer in relation to the above.

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

!Freedom of Information (Surrey), Surrey Police

Dear CONNOR HULKES,

Freedom of Information: 004329/19

I write in connection with your FOI request which was recently received.

We will respond within 20 working days to this request.

Yours Sincerely,

Information Access Team
Surrey Police
Telephone 01483 630007

!Freedom of Information (Surrey), Surrey Police

1 Attachment

 

 

Dear [Name Removed],

 

I write in connection with your request for information received on 13
November 2019

You had asked:

 

Please could you provide me with the following information from Jan 2018 -
Dec 2018;

 

1) The number of Police Officers who were assaulted

1b) The types of assault - if possible - for example, spitting, physical
assault etc.

 

2) The number of Police Officers who were operational during those dates.

2b) This will be used to calculate the ratio/percentile of assaults per
officer.

 

Response:

Section 1 of the Freedom of information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties
on public authorities.  Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at
s1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified within a
request is held.  The second duty at s1(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) state (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the
exemption applies.

The information that you have requested is likely held by Surrey Police,
but not in an easily retrievable format.  This is because in order to
identify the type of assault, would necessitate a manual review of the
hundreds of incidents captured for the requested period.  In addition, to
calculate the number of operational Officers would also require a manual
review of daily rosters to calculate the number who were operational
across the year.

I am not obliged to release this information, as the time and cost
involved to go through each record to provide the information requested,
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.

In accordance with Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
this letter represents a Refusal Notice for this part of your request.

 

Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of
Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill, I have supplied information
relative to your request below (assault data re Q1), retrieved or
available before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. I
trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on
the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.

 

 

Total recorded "8S
Assault with injury on
a constable" crimes
2018 (based on the
entered date)
Total
Recorded
Crime Offence Crimes
5/1 POLICE
OFFICER OR
PCSO - CAUSE
GBH W/I TO
RESIST/PREVENT
ARREST 3
5/1 POLICE
OFFICER OR
PCSO - GBH
WITH INTENT 1
8/6 POLICE
OFFICER OR
PCSO  - ABH 215
Total recorded
crimes 1st
January to
31st December
2018 219
 

 
Total recorded "104
Assault without injury
on a constable" crimes
2018 (based on the
entered date)
Total
Recorded
Crime Offence Crimes
08/73
CONSTABLES
ONLY - ASSAULT
OR ASSAULT BY
BEATING OF
CONSTABLE 40
104/23 ASSAULT
ON CONSTABLE 387
104/25 ASSAULT
ON A
DESIGNATED
PERSON OR
ASSISTANT IN
THE EXERCISE
OF A RELEVANT
POWER 7
104/31 VAGRANT
VIOLENTLY
RESISTING
ARREST 1
Total recorded
crimes 1st
January to
31st December
2018 435

 

 

-See Police workforce ‘data tables’ for figures on Police officers by
police force area (Table_1) which may assist in part re Q2b):

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

 

 

 

Surrey Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your
case under its review procedure. How to do this is set out in the attached
Appeals Notice.  Having followed the full procedure, if you are still
dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments to the
Information Commissioner who will give your case consideration.

 

Thank you for your interest in Surrey Police. Should you have any further
enquiries concerning this matter, please write or contact us on 01483 -
630007 quoting the reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely
                                                                                                    

Neil Coventry

Information Access Team Decision Maker

Information Access Team

Surrey Police

Tel - 101

•         Hunt Number 30007

•         Fax 01483 634911

•         Address – Surrey Police, PO Box 101, Guildford, GU1 9PE

 

The Surrey Police Privacy Notice including your personal data rights is
available on the Surrey Police website or on this link: 
[2]https://www.surrey.police.uk/about-us/yo...

 

The content of this email is NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics...
2. https://www.surrey.police.uk/about-us/yo...

Dear !Freedom of Information (Surrey),

I am grateful for the information you have provided. Unfortunately, the table isn't formatted very well.

Are you able to provide me with a word document which contains the data please?

I look forward to your response and thank you for the information provided.

Yours sincerely,

[Name Removed]