FOI 314499
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 314499
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 27th February 2024. Please find below the response to your request:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, could you provide me with the number of blackmail crimes, in each of the past three financial years (April 1 to March 31 - 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23) and the current financial year to date (April 1 2023 to date), where a webcam has been involved in some way, i.e. where either webcam, web cam, video or social media are mentioned in the summary of the report.
Could you provide a summary of each report, including outcome, and state whether the alleged victim was aged under 16, 16 to 18 or over 18.
Please could you also provide me with a count of the number of crimes recorded as threatening to/disclosing private images in each of the past three financial years (April 1 to March 31 - 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23) and the current financial year to date (April 1 2023 to date). Again, please provide information about outcomes for these and a breakdown by whether the alleged victim was aged under 16, 16 to 18 or over 18.
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 718 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 35 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.
Unfortunately, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed I am unable to identify information that could be supplied within the fees limit.