FOI 526-2025 / May 2025 / Online games
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 526-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 12th May 2025 as follows:
For 2024
Q1a. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
Q1b. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13
For 2023
Q2a. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
Q2b. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13
For 2022
Q3a. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
Q3b. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below. When reviewing the information please note the following:
- A search was conducted for all crimes, recorded in the specified periods, where the keywords of ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘World of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’ appear in the MO Description / Incident Summary.
- The text within the MO Description / Incident Summary fields of the resulting records were then manually reviewed to ensure relevance; therefore, it should be noted that there is a level of subjectivity of the reader involved.
- It is important to note that keyword searches are not carried out routinely as they are not reliable, they will only bring back records where the chosen keyword(s) is present within the MO Description / Incident Summary of an investigation. These are limited free text fields and do not contain all information in relation to an investigation; therefore, in the event that one of the stated keywords is relevant to an offence, but where it has not been mentioned within either of the free text fields, then such records will not be returned. Therefore, the information provided should not be considered statistically accurate and/or definitive and caution should be taken when using this data for any further statistical, analytical or evaluative purposes.
Response:
|
Offence |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
||
|
ASSAULT |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
||
|
EXPOSURE AND VOYEURISM |
|
|
1 |
1 |
||
|
HARASSMENT |
|
1 |
|
1 |
||
|
MALICIOUS COMMUNICATIONS |
|
|
3 |
3 |
||
|
OBSCENE PUBLICATIONS ETC |
|
3 |
5 |
8 |
||
|
OTHER MISC SEXUAL OFFENCES |
|
|
1 |
1 |
||
|
SEXUAL ACTIVITY CHILD |
2 |
4 |
7 |
13 |
||
|
SEXUAL ASSAULT |
|
|
1 |
1 |
||
|
SEXUAL GROOMING |
4 |
4 |
||||
|
THEFT |
|
2 |
|
2 |
||
|
Grand Total |
7 |
13 |
19 |
39 |
||
Note: The numerical data presented in this response is an unaudited snapshot of unpublished data sourced from "live" systems and is subject to the interpretation of the original request by the individual extracting the data.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible; however, the data is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, therefore care should be taken to ensure data collection processes, and their inevitable limitations are considered when interpreting the data.
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