Social media crimes

S Rhosier made this Freedom of Information request to Avon and Somerset Constabulary This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Please provide, list and detail the following:

1. Between 1 January 2015 to current date (30 October 2019), how many reports of social media crimes such as stalking/harassment/malicious communications/sending offensive & threatening messages over a public electronic communications network such as Twitter or Facebook have been reported to your force?

2. Between 1 January 2015 to current date (30 October 2019), how many reports of social media crimes such as stalking/harassment/malicious communications/sending offensive & threatening messages over a public electronic communications network such as Twitter or Facebook have been resolved and closed?

3. Of such reports, how many were closed on the basis of no case to answer/no crime committed?

4. Of such reports, how many resulted in action being taken against the alleged perpetrators reported?

5. Of such reports, were the victims requested to make statements with a view to prosecution?

6. Of such reports, how many resulted in successful prosecution of the perpetrators?

7. Of such successful prosecutions, were the victim's experiences analysed to inform officers and civilian personnel for future reference of the negative effects of social media crime on the victims?

S Rhosier

#Freedom of Information Requests, Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Thank you for your request for information. Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act. In some circumstances Avon and Somerset Constabulary may be unable to achieve this deadline if consideration needs to be given to the public interest test. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

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#Freedom of Information Requests, Avon and Somerset Constabulary

2 Attachments

Legal Services Department

Force Headquarters, PO Box 37, Valley Road,

Portishead, Bristol, BS20 8QJ

Email [email address]    

 

 

 

 

S Rhosier Our 1413/19
Reference
[FOI #616563 email] Date 25
November
2019

 

 

Dear S Rhossier

 

I write in connection with your request for information dated 30^th
October 2019 under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Specifically you asked:

 

1. Between 1 January 2015 to current date (30 October 2019), how many
reports of social media crimes such as stalking/harassment/malicious
communications/sending offensive & threatening messages over a public
electronic communications network such as Twitter or Facebook have been
reported to your force?

 

2. Between 1 January 2015 to current date (30 October 2019), how many
reports of social media crimes such as stalking/harassment/malicious
communications/sending offensive & threatening messages over a public
electronic communications network such as Twitter or Facebook have been
resolved and closed?

 

3. Of such reports, how many were closed on the basis of no case to
answer/no crime committed?

 

4. Of such reports, how many resulted in action being taken against the
alleged perpetrators reported?

 

5. Of such reports, were the victims requested to make statements with a
view to prosecution?

 

6. Of such reports, how many resulted in successful prosecution of the
perpetrators?

 

7. Of such successful prosecutions, were the victim's experiences analysed
to inform officers and civilian personnel for future reference of the
negative effects of social media crime on the victims?

 

 

Our response:

 

Your request has been considered and I regret to advise you that your
request is refused because we estimate that the cost of retrieving the
requested information would exceed the cost limits under the Act which is
currently set at £450 or 18 staff hours work.  This letter represents a
Refusal Notice under the Act.

 

There is no specific category to record the method of communication used.
To identify the method of communication in each case would require a
manual review of the each stalking and harassment crime recorded between
January 2015 and October 2019. Further research of each record would be
required to collate the detail requested

 

If you would like to refine your request in order to bring it down to a
more manageable level, we may be able to supply you with some of the
information you require. This can be done by omitting questions 5 – 7.
With reference to questions 1 – 4 we could search for crimes of stalking
and harassment that also have a ‘cyber-crime’ tag which would indicate a
cyber element to the offence. Please let me know if this is of interest to
you.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Becky Berridge

Deputy Freedom of Information Officer

 

Legal Services Dept  |  Avon and Somerset Police

[1]www.avonandsomerset.police.uk  |  Follow us on [2]Twitter and
[3]Facebook

 

 

Please note:

1.     Requests and responses may be published on Avon and Somerset
Constabulary’s website (within 24 hours), some of which may contain a link
to additional information, which may provide you with further
clarification.

2.     Whilst we may verbally discuss your request with you in order to
seek clarification, all other communication should be made in writing.

3.     Avon and Somerset Constabulary provides you with the right to
request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy
attached).

 

 

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