FOI 373435
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 373435
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 20th November 2024. Please find below the response to your request:
Please could I request the following information under the FOI Act relating to your police service:
1) How many people have been arrested for posts on social media? [Helpful background here: https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/har/harassment-on-social-media/ social media includes things like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram]
2) How many people have been charged over social media posts?
3) How many people have been convicted over social media posts?
Please could it be broken down into the following years? [I understand records might not go back as far as requested or in the format requested but please provide detail as close as possible to the format requested]
Number of arrests:
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Number of charges:
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Number of prosecutions:
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Reply
West Mercia Police do hold some of the information requested. Please note that data is only available from 04/10/2017.
Caveat: To obtain the arrest figures the words Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Tiktok, Twitter, Snapchat, Roblox, Linkedin, You Tube & Only Fans have been searched for in the Arrest Circumstances field. As this is a free text search if the word has not been typed as searched for or abbreviated, the record is not included. Records where the word does not appear to relate to harassment on social media are also not included. Where more than one of the search words is mentioned on the same record, the arrest is only counted once.
|
|
2017* |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024** |
|
Number of People Arrested |
21 |
92 |
83 |
110 |
84 |
90 |
110 |
80 |
|
Number of People Charged |
7 |
41 |
33 |
34 |
23 |
25 |
33 |
8 |
|
Number of People Convicted |
5 |
33 |
27 |
27 |
20 |
20 |
24 |
2 |
*2017 figure is from 4 October - 31 December 2017
** 2024 figure is from 1 January - 20 November 2024
Charged & Conviction figures are as 20 November 2024