FOI 386809
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 386809
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 30th January 2025. Please find below the response to your request:
I am requesting all information that West Mercia Police hold in relation to Unidentified Flying Object/Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sightings for the period 1st January 2024 to the 31st of December 2024. This includes all reports made by members of the public or employees of West Mercia Police that include the following keywords:
UFO, UAP, UAV, USO, lights in the sky, aliens, extra-terrestrial beings, drones, orbs This information should include date, time, location, and the description given by the reporting person. No personal information of such witnesses should be included. Any reports that relate to vehicle registrations should be ignored.
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 284 records including the keyword drone. In order to ascertain whether these records are related to the information you have requested 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.
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 some of the information requested 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
Two searches were carried out, the first included a search using the following words:
- Lights in the sky
- ORB
- UAV
- USO
- UFO
- UAP
- Alien
- Extra terrestrial
- Spaceship
The result of this was a Nil return.
A separate search was carried out using the word Drone, the following was retrieved:
|
Final incident class of all calls which include "Drone" within the incident details |
Calender Month of 2024 |
Grand Total |
||||||||||||
|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|||
|
AD-Created in error |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|||||||||||
|
AD-Duplicate |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
||||||||
|
AD-Test/Training |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
AS-Environmental |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
AS-Nuisance |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
13 |
||||||
|
AS-Personal |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
|||||||
|
CR-Assault |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
CR-Burglary- Residential-home |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
CR-Crime Unlisted |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
|||||||
|
CR-Harrassment/Stalking |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|||||||||
|
CR-Public Order Offence |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
CR-Theft (not vehicle) |
2 |
2 |
||||||||||||
|
GE-Lost/Found Property/Person |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
GE-MAA-attended |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
GE-MAA-not attended |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
GE-Messages |
4 |
1 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
52 |
|
|
GE-Police generated activity |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
14 |
||||
|
PS-Civil Dispute |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
PS-Concern for safety |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
PS-Missing Person (Misper) |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
PS-Sudden/Unexplained Death |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
PS-Suspicious circumstances |
14 |
9 |
13 |
8 |
13 |
16 |
14 |
16 |
17 |
12 |
15 |
13 |
160 |
|
|
PS-Suspicious package/object |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|||||||||||
|
TR-Rail/Air/Marine Incident |
1 |
1 |
||||||||||||
|
Grand Total |
27 |
14 |
27 |
16 |
27 |
25 |
27 |
27 |
26 |
21 |
25 |
22 |
284 |
|