FOI 165723
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 165723
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 8th April 2022. Please find below the response to your request:
This is a Freedom of Information request for the following data relating to searches of people aged under 18, where the search involved the removal of some or all of the individual’s clothing.
Please provide the answers to all the questions within a spreadsheet (either Excel or csv).
1. Please state how many such searches were recorded in each of the following years:
a) 2017, b) 2018, c) 2019, d) 2020, e) 2021, f) 2022 to date
2. Please provide a breakdown for each of the answers to question 1, according to whether the searches were:
a) more thorough searches, b) more thorough searches where intimate parts are exposed (MTIP), c) intimate searches
3. Please provide a breakdown for each of the answers to question 2, according to whether the person searched was:
a) already in custody, b) not in custody
4. Please provide a breakdown for each of the answers to question 3, according to the ethnicity of the person searched
5. Please provide a breakdown for each of the answers to question 4, according to the gender of the person searched
6. Please provide a breakdown for each of the answers to question 5, according to the age of the person searched
7. Please provide a breakdown for each of the answers to question 6, according to the outcome code recorded
8. Please also provide the following in the form of a spreadsheet (either Excel or csv):
A list of searches conducted since 1 Jan 2017 on people aged under 18, where the search involved the removal of some or all of the individual’s clothing, to include for each search only the data from the following fields (where available):
a) date of search
b) nature of search (eg MTIP)
c) whether the person was in custody
d) ethnicity of person searched
e) gender of person searched
f) age of person searched
g) outcome code
(In other words, in the spreadsheet there will be one row of data for each search, and that row will consist of 7 cells, namely the information for each of the fields listed in (a)-(g), where available).
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. There are over 6000 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.
In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.
Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request. However I am able to provide information for some of the questions, as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.
Please note two sets of data have been provided, Set 1 is general from an overall search of ‘stop search’, Set 2 is searched in Custody
SET 1
Q1
|
Year |
Number of Searches of Individuals Under the Age of 18 |
|
2017 |
1,062 |
|
2018 |
1,035 |
|
2019 |
1,059 |
|
2020 |
1,298 |
|
2021 |
1,213 |
|
2022 |
502 |
|
Grand Total |
6,169 |
Q4
|
Ethnicity |
Year |
||||||
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
|
ASIAN |
40 |
47 |
60 |
78 |
68 |
20 |
313 |
|
BLACK |
85 |
77 |
70 |
91 |
73 |
24 |
420 |
|
MIXED |
|
19 |
37 |
74 |
70 |
31 |
231 |
|
NORTH EUROPEAN - WHITE |
872 |
468 |
109 |
64 |
6 |
1 |
1520 |
|
OTHER |
2 |
3 |
11 |
14 |
15 |
4 |
49 |
|
SOUTH EUROPEAN - WHITE |
9 |
9 |
2 |
|
|
|
20 |
|
UNKNOWN |
51 |
72 |
44 |
57 |
3 |
1 |
228 |
|
WHITE |
3 |
340 |
724 |
919 |
977 |
421 |
3384 |
|
Grand Total |
1,062 |
1,035 |
1,057 |
1,297 |
1,212 |
502 |
6,165 |
Q5
|
Gender |
Year |
||||||
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
|
FEMALE |
124 |
110 |
115 |
141 |
104 |
61 |
655 |
|
MALE |
932 |
923 |
942 |
1155 |
1106 |
440 |
5498 |
|
OTHER |
|
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
3 |
|
UNKNOWN |
6 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
9 |
|
Grand Total |
1,062 |
1,035 |
1,057 |
1,297 |
1,212 |
502 |
6,165 |
Q7
|
Outcome of Search |
Year |
||||||
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
|
1 ARREST |
82 |
41 |
|
|
|
|
123 |
|
2 SUMMONS/CHARGE BY POST |
5 |
12 |
17 |
18 |
18 |
2 |
72 |
|
3 CAUTIONED |
7 |
7 |
21 |
16 |
13 |
4 |
68 |
|
4 DRUGS POSSESSION WARNING |
17 |
21 |
26 |
46 |
43 |
16 |
169 |
|
5 PENALTY NOTICE |
|
|
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
6 |
|
6 LOCAL/COMMUNITY RESOLUTION OR CODE G PACE (INTERVIEW) |
23 |
21 |
37 |
70 |
70 |
23 |
244 |
|
7 NO FURTHER ACTION |
805 |
793 |
811 |
967 |
878 |
380 |
4634 |
|
8 RESTORATIVE JUSTICE |
6 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
10 |
|
9 ARRESTED - ANY OTHER OFFENCE |
19 |
85 |
137 |
172 |
179 |
76 |
668 |
|
10 VOLUNTARY INTERVIEW |
87 |
39 |
|
|
|
|
126 |
|
11 BAIL OFFENCE |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
12 ARRESTED S5 PUBLIC ORDER |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
3 |
|
13 ARRESTED ON WARRANT |
|
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
14 ARRESTED - DRINK DRIVE/DRUG |
7 |
9 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
36 |
|
Grand Total |
1,062 |
1,035 |
1,057 |
1,297 |
1,212 |
502 |
6,165 |
SET 2 – Searches in Custody
Q1
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
32 |
37 |
58 |
44 |
55 |
5 |
Q2
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
|
Strip |
32 |
37 |
58 |
44 |
55 |
5 |
|
Intimate |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Q4
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
|
Any Other Asian Background |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Any Other Mixed or Multiple Background |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Any Other White Background |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Asian - Pakistani |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Black - Caribbean |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Black African |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Black Caribbean |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Mixed - White And Black African |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Mixed - White And Black Caribbean |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Not Stated |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Pakistani |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
White - British |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
White And Asian |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
White And Black Caribbean |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
White British |
0 |
4 |
14 |
11 |
19 |
3 |
|
Not Recorded |
7 |
30 |
41 |
32 |
25 |
0 |
Q5
|
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
Female |
4 |
4 |
7 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
|
Male |
28 |
33 |
51 |
40 |
50 |
5 |
Q6
|
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
13/14/15 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
2 |
|
16 |
6 |
9 |
20 |
16 |
23 |
3 |
|
17 |
21 |
23 |
28 |
18 |
24 |
0 |
|
Q8 Search Result |
||||||
|
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022* |
|
Negative |
24 |
31 |
50 |
32 |
52 |
5 |
|
Not recorded |
4 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
Positive |
4 |
5 |
8 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
*Data provided January -March