FOI 575-2024 / June 2024 / Complaints
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 575-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 17th June 2024 as follows:
Can I respectfully request the following information for the calendar years 2022 and 2023?
- Statistics on the total number of complaints raised involving custody officers or investigating officers concerning PACE Code C. If this can be broken down by paras 6, 10, 11 and 12, or their respective Notes for Guidance, that would be helpful.
If possible, please include details of outcomes e.g. reflective practice, written warnings, misconduct/gross misconduct hearings, escalation to IOPC or other outcomes such as financial payments for out-of-court settlements.
Statistical and outcome information only is requested. I am not requesting any identifying information or information relating to the substantive facts of the complaint.
If any other anonymised data is available such as categorisation of the nature of the complaint eg: PACE Code of Practice paragraph, breach of human rights, or judicial judgments is available can this also please be included?
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 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.
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
Although it may be possible to retrieve a partial extraction of information, the results will not be clearly defined under PACE as this is broader than the national allegation categories allow. Therefore, in order to determine whether any information is held, and to collate any relevant data, it would require a very labour-intensive manual trawl through 235 records, and approximately 10 minutes per record, this would mean that the cost of complying with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) would be above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
Furthermore, sufficient data may not be recorded within any such records to determine whether they fit a possible complaint against Code C and, where such information is not clearly held, the analyst would need to make subjective decisions on whether information falls within the remit of the request. This would be opinion and not recorded data held by Warwickshire Police.
In accordance with Section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please treat this letter as the Refusal Notice I am required to provide to you in respect of your request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request. However, due to the extent of the searches required, I am unable to suggest a way to revise this element into one which could be provided within the fees limit.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB