FOI 935-2024 / Oct 2024 / Arrests
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 935-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 24th October 2024 and clarification received on as follows:
- a) the total number of arrests made by your organisation since 1 January 2024
- b) the number of arrests of foreign nationals by your organisation since 1 January 2024
- c) If possible, a breakdown of the alleged crimes committed by arrested foreign nationals since 1 January 2024.
- d) If possible, a breakdown of arrested non-UK nationals by their nationality.
On 25th October 2024 we contacted you for clarification as follows:
Regarding Qb, please be advised that the Custody Recording System does not specifically record whether or not a person in custody is a Foreign National. Following arrest, an individual is conveyed to custody and the custody sergeant considers if their detention should be authorised. If authorised, the individual is then advised of their rights, including, where relevant, those as a foreign national. To capture that a foreign national has been advised of their right to have their embassy notified of their whereabouts and their right to communicate with their embassy, an entry is added to the detention log under entry type ‘Rights’. Therefore, we could conduct a search for all custody records with an entry type of ‘Rights’ within the detention log, containing the keyword ‘embassy’ as a proxy to determine the number of Foreign Nationals arrested for the specified period.
Please advise whether you are happy to proceed with Qb on this basis.
Regarding Qd, the Custody Recording System can capture ‘Place of Birth’, ‘Ethnicity’ and ‘Nationality’ of the person arrested, however, these are not mandatory fields and even when completed, they would not determine whether or not an arrested person was a UK National.
According to https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality there are 6 different types of British nationality:
- British citizenship
- British Overseas Territories citizen
- British overseas citizen
- British subject
- British national (overseas)
- British protected person
There are various conditions with each of the above to determine whether someone can be classed as having a British Nationality.
With this in mind, please can you advise us how you wish to proceed with this part of the request, do you wish to revise for different information or withdraw it.
You may find the below published FOI response for arrests by nationality useful to review:
On 4th November 2024 you provided the following clarification:
Please proceed with either all nationalities logged that are not British, English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish. If that is not possible, please provide the number of all arrests that have required an embassy to be contacted.
On 5th November 2024 we requested further clarification as follows:
To make sure that we have fully understood the clarification you have provided, we require further information from you.
Your original requests were:
- a) the total number of arrests made by your organisation since 1 January 2024
- b) the number of arrests of foreign nationals by your organisation since 1 January 2024
- c) If possible, a breakdown of the alleged crimes committed by arrested foreign nationals since 1 January 2024.
- d) If possible, a breakdown of arrested non-UK nationals by their nationality.
Please can you clarify whether you wish to amend Qb to:
- b) the number of arrests of foreign nationals by your organisation since 1 January 2024 – please determine this by conducting a search for all custody records where the individual arrested has a ‘Nationality’ recorded that is other than: British, English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish, or
- b) the number of arrests of foreign nationals by your organisation since 1 January 2024 - please determine this by conducting a search for all custody records with an entry type of 'Rights' within the detention log, containing the keyword 'embassy', as a proxy to determine the number of Foreign Nationals arrested for the specified period.
Regarding Qd, please can you advise if this question is being withdrawn?
On 5th November 2024 you provided the following:
Please proceed with QB on the basis of whether an embassy was contacted.
For QD please proceed with it on the basis of all non-English, British, Scottish, and Welsh nationalities that are recorded.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire police response set out below.
When reviewing the Information please note the following:
- Searches were conducted for arrests during the period 1st January 2024 to 31st October 2024.
- With regard to Qb, when a non-UK citizen is arrested they must be advised of their rights, as a foreign national, to have their embassy notified of their whereabouts and their right to communicate with their embassy. In order to record that the individual has been advised of their rights, an entry is made to the detention log under entry type ‘Rights’. Therefore searches were conducted of all arrests, during the stated period, where the detention log contains an entry type of ‘Rights’ and the keyword ‘embassy’.
- An individual can be arrested for more than one offence/reason.
Qa response: 4835
Qb response: 654
Qc response:
|
Offence/Reason for Arrest type |
Total |
|
Arson and Criminal Damage |
55 |
|
Bail breach / fail to answer |
8 |
|
Breach of Order |
10 |
|
Breach of the Peace |
4 |
|
Burglary |
27 |
|
Driving Offences |
127 |
|
Drug Offences |
95 |
|
Drunk and Disorderly |
10 |
|
Miscellaneous crimes against society |
123 |
|
NFIB Fraud |
9 |
|
Obstruct Police Officer |
5 |
|
Other |
7 |
|
Other - Not listed - NOT PNC Recordable |
3 |
|
Other - Not listed - PNC Recordable |
16 |
|
Possession of weapons |
21 |
|
Prison - Recall to Prison/Revocation of Prison Licence |
6 |
|
Public Order Offences |
30 |
|
Robbery |
13 |
|
Sexual Offences |
73 |
|
Theft |
94 |
|
Vehicle offences |
30 |
|
Violence Against the Person |
385 |
|
Warrants |
43 |
|
Grand Total |
1194 |
Qd response: Of the 4835 arrests in response to Qa, 639 had a recorded nationality other than English, British, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish (UK nationalities). However, please note that there are 390 records which do not have a nationality recorded and are ‘blank’ or ‘unknown’.
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