Ethnicity recorded on witness statements

The request was refused by West Midlands Police.

Dear West Midlands Police,

I would like to submit a Freedom of Information request to obtain the following information about the personal details that are recorded by our officers when witnesses complete a witness form (MG11):

1) Please state the number of cases where contact details forms associated with witness statements have the self-defined ethnicity recorded as "NS not stated" and also include a police defined ethnicity code.

2) For the cases in 1), please list the number cases with a break down of the ethnic codes assigned by the police, e.g.

Year 20XX
Number; Ethnicity (identity code)
11 ; IC1
22; IC2
33; IC3
44 ; IC4

and so on....

Please provide data from the last ten years.

Yours faithfully,

M. Nah.

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Freedom of Information,

4 Attachments

Dear M. Nah.

 

FOI Request Reference: 615A/20

 

Thank you for your request for information, received 11/08/2020

 

REQUEST

 

I would like to submit a Freedom of Information request to obtain the
following information about the personal details that are recorded by our
officers when witnesses complete a witness form (MG11):

 

1) Please state the number of cases where contact details forms associated
with witness statements have the self-defined ethnicity recorded as "NS
not stated" and also include a police defined ethnicity code.

 

2) For the cases in 1), please list the number cases with a break down of
the ethnic codes assigned by the police, e.g.

 

Year 20XX

Number;         Ethnicity (identity code)

11 ;                     IC1

22;                      IC2

33;                      IC3

44 ;                     IC4

 

and so on....

 

Please provide data from the last ten years.

 

RESPONSE

 

Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide this
information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of
Information (FOI) Act.

This is because WMP charge approximately 36,000 cases a year. In order to
obtain the information requested, we would need to manually interrogate
multiple systems to check the MG11 statements for the ethnic codes. Each
case can have between 2-4 witnesses on average (these will fluctuate
depending on the offence etc). Estimated at approximately 15 minutes to
review each case for 10 years, this would take us approximately 90,000
hours.

 

This means that the cost of providing you with the information 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 the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts
as a Refusal Notice for this request.

 

Unfortunately, due to the reasons outlined above I am unable to suggest
any practical way in which your request may be modified in order to
satisfy your query or bring it within the 18 hours stipulated by the
Regulations. I am however willing to consider any refinements that you are
able to make to your request, in accordance with Section 16 of the Freedom
of Information Act.

 

Further information on section 12 of FOI is available here:

 

[1]https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-co...

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

For further information and data on West Midlands Police see our
publication scheme and disclosure log

 

[2]http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/

 

RIGHT OF APPEAL

 

Your attention is drawn to your right to request a re-examination of your
case under West Midlands Police review procedure, which can be found at:

 

[3]http://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/revie...

 

Please note that such an appeal must be received within 40 working days of
the date of this correspondence. Any such request received after this time
will only be considered at the discretion of the FOI Unit.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Justine Barrett | Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Communications | West Midlands Police

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This email is intended for the addressee only and may contain privileged
or confidential information. If received in error, please notify the
originator immediately. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or
alteration of this email is strictly forbidden. Views or opinions
expressed in this email do not necessarily represent those of West
Midlands Police. All West Midlands Police email activity is monitored for
virus, racist, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate activity. No
responsibility is accepted by West Midlands Police for any loss or damage
arising in any way from the receipt or use of this email.

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