Fox hunting calls

Essex Police did not have the information requested.

Dear Essex Police,

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000).

I wish to know how many complaints were received by your force relating to Boxing Day (26/12/18) fox hunting. Please also include any related complaints received by your force from the 26th to the 27th of December 2018.

Please include the following:

* Number of calls relating to a fox-hunt illegally catching and or killing a fox.
* Number of calls relating to assault of a hunter, spectator or any member of the public in connection with a fox hunt.
* Number of calls relating to criminal damage at, or in connection with, a fox hunt.

I look forward to your response, please feel free to contact me by email or phone for any clarification.

Ross Bryant
[email address]
07568445678

Kind Regards

Ross Bryant

Data FOI Essex,

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Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above reference 12607.

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 s14 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 www.ico.gov.uk specific information relating to submitting a request can be found at: 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.

Kind regards,

Information Rights Team
Information Management Department
Strategic Change Directorate
E-Mail: [email address]

If you require further information or wish to submit a request, please refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s website regarding submission of effective requests 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: [Essex Police request email]

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 https://ico.org.uk/

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Data FOI Essex,

1 Attachment

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:

I wish to know how many complaints were received by your force relating to Boxing Day (26/12/18) fox hunting. Please also include any related complaints received by your force from the 26th to the 27th of December 2018.

Please include the following:

* Number of calls relating to a fox-hunt illegally catching and or killing a fox.
* Number of calls relating to assault of a hunter, spectator or any member of the public in connection with a fox hunt.
* Number of calls relating to criminal damage at, or in connection with, a fox hunt.

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 the number of calls relating to illegal fox hunting and/or the killing a fox, the assault of a hunter, spectator or any member of the public in connection with a fox hunt or criminal damage at, or in connection with, a fox hunt from our current systems. Reported information would be held on a system called S.T.O.R.M. (Strategic Tasking Organisational Resource Management system). This system allows incidents to be recorded and resources deployed. It is not primarily for the production of statistical information. If information was located, Essex Police would be unable to provide the number of calls from our system as this would entail manually searching and extracting the requested data and then reviewing each call one by one to establish if it meets one of the requested groups. To establish if information is held would, therefore, exceed the time and cost limits under the FOIA and would 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.

Essex Police records crime statistics based on a notifiable list as set out by the Home Office Counting rules and these offences are more likely to be extracted from our systems - please see the below link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Unfortunately although various forms of hunting (including fox hunting) were outlawed by the Hunting Act 2004, none of the sections of that act are notifiable crimes.

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.

Having said that, and in an effort to assist, although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the FOIA, Essex Police can confirm the following:

A keyword search was undertaken on the S.T.O.R.M. system covering the 26th and 27th December 2018 and no calls were found relating to fox hunting. Please note any further breakdown based on offences and keyword search may be highly inaccurate as our systems are not designed for this requirement.

Thank you for your interest in Essex Police. If you require further information a new request will need to be submitted and the request will be dealt with accordingly.

Kind regards

Information Rights Team
Information Management Department
Strategic Change Directorate
Direct Dial: 01245 452647
E-Mail: [Essex Police request email]

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 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: [Essex Police request email]

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 https://ico.org.uk/

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