Usage of custody suites

Dear Mr Mery

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2011110002932
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 18/11/2011. I note you seek
access to the following information:

"Can you please provide, preferably in a spreadsheet format, the following
recorded information for each custody suite, for each month from June
2009 to now:

1) Whether the custody suite is, during that month, - open regularly
most of the time, - opened occasionally for scheduled events (e.g.,
Holloway police station's custody suite), - opened occasionally without
a preplanned schedule (e.g., Marylebone police station's custody suite),
or - closed.

2) The number of days the custody suites was open, per month.

3) The maximum number of cells available at that custody suite, per month.

4) The number of detainees held at that custody suite, per month:
4a) under PACE (1984);
4b) under the Terrorism Act (2000);
4c) under immigration regulations (e.g., Immigration Act 1971 and
Immigration and Asylum Act 1999);
4d) under the Mental Health Act (1983);
4e) under the Children )Act 1989);
4f) on remanded or sentenced;
4g) for other reasons.

5) The reasons a custody suite that is opened occasionally without a
preplanned schedule can be opened.

6a) The reason Marylebone custody suite was opened on Saturday 2011-10-29
(for just one detainee).
6b) The rank and name of the officer who took the decision to open
Marylebone custody suite that day. "

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act). You will receive a response within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject to
the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances the MPS may be unable to achieve this
deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
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COMPLAINT RIGHTS

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complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact FOIA Team on telephone number 02071613640 quoting the reference
number above.

Yours sincerely

P Deja
Policy and Support Officer
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

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Dear Mr Mery,

Freedom of Information Request Reference Number: 2011110002932

I write in connection with your following request for information which
was received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 18th November
2011.

"Can you please provide, preferably in a spreadsheet format, the following
recorded information for each custody suite, for each month from June 2009
to now:

1) Whether the custody suite is, during that month,
- open regularly most of the time
- opened occasionally for scheduled events (e.g. Holloway police
station's custody suite)
- opened occasionally without a preplanned schedule (e.g.
Marylebone's police station's custody suite), or
- closed

2) The number of days the custody suites was open, per month.

3) The maximum number of cells available at that custody suite, per
month.

4) The number of detainees held at that custody suite, per month:
4a) under PACE (1984);
4b) under the Terrorism Act (2000);
4c) under immigration regulations (e.g., Immigration Act 1971 and
Immigration and Asylum Act 1999);
4d) under the Mental Health Act (1983);
4e) under the Children Act (1989);
4f) on remanded or sentenced;
4g) for other reasons.

5) The reasons a custody suite that is opened occasionally without
a preplanned schedule can be opened

6a) The reason Marylebone custody suite was opened on Saturday
2011-10-29 (for just one detainee).
6b) The rank and name of the officer who took the decision to open
Marylebone custody suite that day."

This letter is to inform you that it will not be possible to respond to
your request within the cost threshold.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter
therefore acts as a Refusal Notice. Please see the legal annex at the end
of this response for the relevant extracts of the legislation which apply.

We estimate that the cost of complying with this request would exceed the
appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations
and for agencies outside central Government this is set at **450.00. This
represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours [at a rate
of **25 per hour] in determining whether the MPS holds the information,
and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

Upon receipt of your request searches were conducted within the
Territorial Policing Headquarters - TP Criminal Justice Custody
Directorate, and the Performance Information Bureau.

The MPS has a total of 992 operational cells contained within 72 custody
suites across London. Out of these 52 suites are operational on a 24/7
basis with 807 cells and the remainder are 'overflow' ones with 185 cells
which are utilised to meet demands on and above 24/7 custody core
business.

The current NSPIS Custody system does not store historic data regarding
cell usage. It is designed to be a live system with a capacity to store
custody records and not which cell was used or when a custody suite was
full. Some data relating to scheduled custody suite closures is held
centrally but Borough Custody Managers can use overflow suites at their
discretion and when required.
No information is held centrally as to which custody suite is open on a
monthly or daily basis although this has been identified as an area which
requires work and it is hoped that this information will be held in the
future.

In order to ascertain the information requested under points 1, 2 and 3
the custody records created during the time period specified would have to
be searched. As there are 72 custody suites and the request is for
information relating to 30 months the time to locate and extract the data
would exceed the 18 hours allowed.

In relation to question 4 again the time taken to locate, retrieve and
collate all the information requested over a 30 month period would exceed
the 18 hours allowed. The MPS currently creates between 275,000 and
300,000 custody records per year. The computer search would need to
extract raw data relating to each requested category of detainee from over
750,000 custody records prior to each category being broken down by
custody suite and category. A test to collate some of the data requested
ran for over the 18 allowed hours.

Therefore the information you have requested is exempt by virtue of
Section 12(1) of the Act.

Please note that the Information Commissioner's guidance states that
'Section 12 makes it clear that a public authority does not have to make a
precise calculation of the costs of complying with a request. Only an
estimate is required …. what amounts to a reasonable estimate can only be
considered on a case by case basis.' In addition, the Commissioner also
advises 'where a reasonable estimate has been made that the appropriate
limit would be exceeded, there is no requirement for a public authority to
undertake work up to that limit.'

In order to provide you with some assistance I can inform you that there
are a number of custody suites that are not run on a 24/7 basis as
mentioned above. These suites can be opened and used for a variety of
reasons including the following:

* Charge Centres for major public or sporting events
* Local policing operations
* Bail to returns
* Temporary use while another suite is closed for any reason e.g.
cleaning, maintenance, upgrade work.

I can also confirm that Marylebone custody suite was opened on the day in
question as part of a pre planned public order operation.

Section 16

Under Section 16 of the Act we are required to provide you with advice and
assistance in connection with your request so that it falls within the
cost limit. If you were to specify particular custody suites or Boroughs
that you would be interested in receiving information for, and if you were
to limit the time period in which you are interested it may be possible to
provide you with some of the information you have requested in question 4
within the cost threshold.

Please note that any new request would need to be reduced compared to your
original request in order to comply with the cost provisions stipulated by
the Act. Any new re-defined request would also need to be re-considered in
order to establish whether Section 12 of the Act would again be engaged.

Therefore, if you would like to discuss this further and receive some
assistance in how to formulate a new request, please contact Deborah
Solomon via email: [email address]

I would also like to take this opportunity to explain to you a public
authority's right to aggregate requests of a similar nature from an
applicant.

Section 12(4) of the Act provides:

(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that, in such
circumstances as may be prescribed, where two or more requests for
information are made to a public authority-
(a) by one person, or
(b) by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting
in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying
with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of
complying with all of them.

Therefore, if you were to submit a separate request asking for information
pertaining to each of the 32 boroughs for example, we would be within our
rights to aggregate these requests. This is set out in Section 5 of The
Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004.

Therefore, you would need to leave a 'reasonable' period between
submitting such requests, which is '60 consecutive working days'.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet which details your right of
complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact Deborah Solomon on telephone number 0207 161 4291 quoting the
reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Bloomfield
Head of TP Criminal Justice
Territorial Policing Headquarters
COMPLAINT RIGHTS