De-arrest statistics

The request was refused by Essex Police.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have noticed a number of reports in the press regarding people
being arrested and then later de-arrested.

In some of these cases the impression given is that the police are
using arrest/de-arrest as a 'convenient' and simple way of
temporarily removing people from a location and detaining them for
a time with out genuine due cause.

I would like details of de-arrests nationally over the past (say)
year, showing the time, police officer, geographic location and
reason for the original arrest and the time, location and
justification of the de-arrest. Can you tell me what information
you hold that could assist me with this?

Also any information that you have collated yourselves regarding
the use of de-arrests.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Perrin

FOI, Essex Police

Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

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

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20 working days but given the current high level of requests being received that may not be possible. We will reply as soon as possible and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience any delay may cause.

Steve Grayton
Information Officer
Data Protection & Freedom of Information
Information Management
Corporate Development Department
Essex Police Headquarters
PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA
Tel: 0300 333 4444 Ext 54551
Fax: 01245 452256
Email : [email address]
For FOI requests : [Essex Police request email]
For Data Protection: [email address]
Website: www.essex.police.uk
Hours of work : Mon - Thurs 7:30 to 15:30
Fri 7:30 to 15:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Perrin [mailto:[FOI #9227 email]]
Sent: 11 March 2009 14:17
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - De-arrest statistics

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have noticed a number of reports in the press regarding people
being arrested and then later de-arrested.

In some of these cases the impression given is that the police are
using arrest/de-arrest as a 'convenient' and simple way of
temporarily removing people from a location and detaining them for
a time with out genuine due cause.

I would like details of de-arrests nationally over the past (say)
year, showing the time, police officer, geographic location and
reason for the original arrest and the time, location and
justification of the de-arrest. Can you tell me what information
you hold that could assist me with this?

Also any information that you have collated yourselves regarding
the use of de-arrests.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Perrin

show quoted sections

Steve Grayton, Essex Police

Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above reference. Having completed my enquiries I am able to respond as follows:

I have noticed a number of reports in the press regarding people being arrested and then later de-arrested.

In some of these cases the impression given is that the police are using arrest/de-arrest as a 'convenient' and simple way of temporarily removing people from a location and detaining them for a time with out genuine due cause.

I would like details of de-arrests nationally over the past (say) year, showing the time, police officer, geographic location and reason for the original arrest and the time, location and justification of the de-arrest. Can you tell me what information you hold that could assist me with this?

Also any information that you have collated yourselves regarding the use of de-arrests.

Your request asks for "national" figures which we are unable to provide. Any response is based on information held by Essex Police only.

In terms of Freedom of Information, I am afraid that the specific information you were seeking access to is not held by Essex Police in what is referred to as a readily accessible format.

For the purposes of section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) this response serves as a formal notification of refusal of your request on the basis that Essex Police does not hold, for the purposes of FOIA, the specific data in a readily accessible format. That is to say, this data is not extractable from a central database or held in a spreadsheet. To ascertain whether this information is held would entail a manual search of Essex Police records; a process which would be likely to exceed the appropriate limit (as mentioned at section 12 of the FOIA) in terms of cost/time (£450 or the equivalent in time of 18 hours).

Where police officers arrest a person at a scene of an incident and then de-arrest them because information is obtained which means the arrest is not necessary no custody record is created. If the person is arrested and removed from the scene and on their arrival at a custody suite it is revealed that the arrest is not necessary then the Custody Officer will release the people without charge. To identify these numbers would require a manual review of each officers notebooks, a process which would exceed the time / cost constraints of FOI.

I would mention however that for an officer to arrest someone without genuine cause would render the Officer open to possible criminal, civil or discipline procedures.

I am sorry that we have been unable to provide the information requested.

Steve Grayton
Information Officer
Data Protection & Freedom of Information
Information Management
Corporate Development Department
Essex Police Headquarters
PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA
Tel: 0300 333 4444 Ext 54551
Fax: 01245 452256
Email : <mailto:[email address]> [email address]
For FOI requests : <mailto:[Essex Police request email]> [Essex Police request email]
For Data Protection: <mailto:[email address]> [email address]
Website: <http://www.essex.police.uk> www.essex.police.uk
Hours of work : Mon - Thurs 7:30 to 15:30
Fri 7:30 to 15:00
Essex Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure. If you decide to request such a review and having followed the Police'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.

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Grayton On Behalf Of FOI
Sent: 12 March 2009 07:46
To: 'Paul Perrin'
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request our ref.1989 [NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED]

Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

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

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20 working days but given the current high level of requests being received that may not be possible. We will reply as soon as possible and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience any delay may cause.

Steve Grayton
Information Officer
Data Protection & Freedom of Information
Information Management
Corporate Development Department
Essex Police Headquarters
PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA
Tel: 0300 333 4444 Ext 54551
Fax: 01245 452256
Email : [email address]
For FOI requests : [Essex Police request email]
For Data Protection: [email address]
Website: <file://www.essex.police.uk> www.essex.police.uk
Hours of work : Mon - Thurs 7:30 to 15:30
Fri 7:30 to 15:00

show quoted sections

Andy Wells left an annotation ()

The practise of doing this (arrest then de-arrest)does happen often, indeed it is a legal necessity - if a Pc arrests someone and then almost immediately subsequent information comes to light that means that the arrest is not necessary, the detained person SHOULD be de-arrested swiftly. This can also be used as part of the 'breach of peace' powers that any person can use.
You write as if it's undesirable - quite the opposite!

Paul Perrin left an annotation ()

Andy,

The issue here is that most forces seem to have no record of these events - they only record is a handwritten note in the officers notebook.

And all these forces have rejected my request on cost grounds.

We can't even begin to assess whether or not de-arrest are being abused unless the figures are available.

This is not really the place for specific discussion of this issue - but feel free to contact me directly.

There is a 'send a message' link on my profile page.

Regards

Paul Perrin