The Public Disclosure Team acknowledge receipt of your email.

Please be aware that due to Government issued advice the Public Disclosure
Team will be working remotely for the foreseeable future. We therefore ask
that you only contact us via this email address and avoid telephoning our
team to chase existing requests or make a new request for Disclosure of
Information or a Subject Access Request.

We will endeavour to get back to you as soon as we can and thank you for
your patience at this time.

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
civil proceedings. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that
any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of the contents of this
information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.
For further information regarding Kent Police’s or Essex Police’s use of
personal data please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/privacy/ or
https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/privacy/. Additionally for our Terms and
Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...

Dear Mr Couchman-Sawyer,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 20/09/1088

Thank you for your request received by Kent Police on 8^th September 2020.
I note you seek access, in summary, to information relating to:

Breaches of coronavirus and lockdown restrictions

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) provides that a public
authority respond to an FOI request within 20 working days. 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. It is likely that a response may well be
delayed, particularly where crime data is sought.

Your interest in Kent Police is appreciated and pending a specific
response to your request, I enclose a sheet, which summarises your rights.
Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact us via the following telephone number 01622 652610 quoting the
reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

Helen Ratcliffe

Public Disclosure Officer

[1][email address]

Kent Police Public Disclosure Team

Coldharbour, London Road,

Aylesford, Kent, ME20 7SL

Unless otherwise marked, this correspondence and any attachments should be
treated as OFFICIAL and handled appropriately

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
civil proceedings. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that
any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of the contents of this
information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.
For further information regarding Kent Police’s or Essex Police’s use of
personal data please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/privacy/ or
https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/privacy/. Additionally for our Terms and
Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Mr Couchman-Sawyer,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF 20/09/1088

Thank you for your request received by Kent Police on 8^th September 2020.

 1. Number of reports made to Kent Police about breaches of coronavirus
and lockdown restrictions.
 2. How many of those reports were investigated
 3. How many arrests and charges were made as a result of these reports.

Unfortunately your request engages the cost exemption at Section 12 FOIA.
Section 12 provides an exemption from a public authority’s obligation to
comply with a request for information where the cost of compliance is
estimated to exceed the appropriate limit. The Freedom of Information and
Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 state that
the appropriate cost limit is 18 hours in the case of the Police Service.

The justification for the engagement of the above exemption is questions 2
and 3. The reason for this is that it is not possible to extract the
information subject of the request by automated means.

To determine if a reported incident resulted in an investigation, arrest
and any subsequent outcome, would require the extensive manual review of
all incidents crime reports and case files. All of which are stored on
separate parts of the electronic recording database which cannot be linked
automatically.

This is complicated further by the fact that an associated crime report to
an incident could be for any offences discovered as a result of attending
the incident and may not necessarily relate to the investigation into a
breach of Coronavirus Legislation.

This all together would require the manual review of many hundreds of
records and estimated to take the request beyond the 18 working hour
limit.

When Section 12 is engaged, our duty under Section 16 requires that we
assist you in refining your request so as to bring it within the cost
limit. In this instance we would suggest the following refinement.

 1. Number of reports made to Kent Police about breaches of coronavirus
and lockdown restrictions.

If you would like to proceed with the refined request please advise us and
we will log and process the new request as soon as possible. You will be
contacted with a new reference number if this is the case.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please do
not hesitate to contact us. If you are dissatisfied with the way your
request has been handled please refer to the ‘your rights summary’
attached for details of the next step you are able to take.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Staden

Public Disclosure Officer

Information Security and Governance

Kent Police

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
civil proceedings. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that
any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of the contents of this
information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.
For further information regarding Kent Police’s or Essex Police’s use of
personal data please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/privacy/ or
https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/privacy/. Additionally for our Terms and
Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...