FOI 313863

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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 313863 

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 22^nd February 2024.  Please find below the response to your request: 

Please see below a request for the following information relating to incidents involving the misuse of drones, specifically those reported as being used for stalking or harassing victims. 

Given the growing accessibility and use of drones, understanding their misuse for such purposes is crucial for public safety and privacy concerns. 

Specifically, I would like to request the following information for each of the following time periods: 

January 2018 – December 2018 

January 2019 – December 2019 

January 2020 - December 2020 

January 2021 – December 2021 

January 2022 – December 2022 

January 2023– December 2023 

January 2024 – February 2024 (most recent available) 

Question 1: 

What is the total number of incidents reported involving the misuse of drones per year? 

Question 2: 

How many incidents of drone misuse were reported to have been used for the purpose of crimes such as stalking, harassment, voyeurism per year? 

Question 3: 

Are there any patterns identified in these incidents; 

a.     What is the nature of the harassment or stalking reported (e.g., surveillance, intimidation). 

b.     How many investigations were launched per year? 

c.     How many charges are filed per year? 

d.     How many convictions are obtained per year? 

Question 4: 

Is there any guidance, policies, or initiatives implemented by your force to tackle the misuse of drones for stalking or harassment? 

Question 5: 

Lastly we would be interested to know if you have an officer available for interview on the data you provide and whether or not it is possible to film with any victims and/or the police drone unit.  

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.  S.12(2) of the Act exempts a public authority from its obligations under Section 1(1) - the duty to confirm if the information being requested is held, if to provide that confirmation alone would exceed the “appropriate limit”.    

The information you have requested in Question 3a, what is the nature of the harassment or stalking reported (e.g., surveillance, intimidation), is not available in a readily retrievable format. This information may be mentioned within drone crime records held by West Mercia Police however, to retrieve the requested information, if held, would involve a manual trawl and search of those records held. Given the volume, West Mercia Police are unable to manually check the Incident Details fields of all it’s drone crime records to establish the nature of the incident (1,441 incidents x3 minutes divided by 60 = 72.05 hours).

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 and hence in accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice. 

However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for questions 1, 2 & 3c & d 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 see below.

Question 1: 

What is the total number of incidents reported involving the misuse of drones per year?

(Between 1/1/2018 – 29/2/2024) - 1441