Freedom of Information Request 806/19
Response Date: 31st July 2019
I would like to request the following information in regards to the estate of your organisation.
1. The Location (incl. Full address & Postcode) of all buildings occupied by your organisation.
2. The tenure (i.e. Leasehold or Freehold) of all building occupied by your organisation.
3. Whether any of these buildings are subject to PFI Agreements.
4. The use (i.e. Police Station/Neighbourhood Base/Offices/Disused) of all buildings occupied by your
organisations.
5. The identity of any locations that are earmarked for future disposal.
6. The date at which any future disposals are due to take place.
7. Whether any of these locations will be replaced after disposal.
8. If a replacement location is intended, what form will this take (i.e. Relocation/Co-Location).
RESPONSE
We have consulted with our Estates Department who have provided the information to answer your request.
Please see the attached document entitled ‘Response Data 806_19’.
Your request for information in relation to covert locations has been considered and I am not obliged to supply this
information.
Section 31(1)(a)(b) - Law Enforcement
Section 31 is a qualified, prejudice-based exemption. The authority is therefore required to articulate the harm that
may be caused and consider the public interest arguments for and against the disclosure of the information.
Overall Harm
Disclosure would prejudice the prevention, detection of crime and apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
To
release details of covert locations utilised by South Wales Police would compromise police operations and the safety
of our Police Officers.
In the current climate in the United Kingdom, no information which may aid a criminal should be disclosed. To what
extent this information may aid a criminal is unknown, but it is clear that it will have a considerable negative impact on
the police’s ability to monitor criminal activity. The public entrust the Police Service to make appropriate decisions with
regard to their safety and protection and the only way of reducing risk is to be cautious with the information that is
released.
Continued….
THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000, AND IS CORRECT
AS
AT THE DATE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the South Wales Police.
Freedom of Information Request 806/19
Public Interest Considerations
Factors favouring disclosure
Disclosure of the location of our covert estates would increase transparency and inspire confidence in the police.
Factors favouring non-disclosure
By not supplying this information we are better able to protect South Wales Police from possible attacks on perceived
vulnerabilities.
Balance
The Police Service is charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the communities
we serve. These roles are of paramount importance and the Police Service will not divulge information if to do so
would place the safety of Police Officers at risk or undermine the prevention or detection of crime.
In accordance with the Act, this letter acts as a refusal notice for this part of your request.
THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED IN RESPONSE TO A REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000, AND IS CORRECT
AS AT THE DATE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the South Wales Police.
