Crime on London's waterways and towpaths from January 2001 to November 2021
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.21.022140
I note you seek access to the following information:
1. Can you provide the number of:
a) mugging
b) sexual assault
c) burglary reported on the waterways and towpaths for each year from 1995 - 2021?
(if this is too much work, could you provide those statistics for 1995, 2005, 2015 and 2020?)
2. Is crime that occurs on the waterways recorded by Borough or does it have its own category?
3. There is a well known flasher/ masturbator on the towpath and adjoining marshes in Walthamstow who targets women. Could you provide any information on reports of this? I am particularly interested to know the date of the first report of this.
Decision
I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 40 – Personal Information
Reason for decision
In respect of Question Three (3), the Metropolitan Police Service neither confirms nor denies that it holds the information you have requested as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply by virtue of the Section 40(5) exemption.
In respect of Question Three (3), the MPS is required to take into account that a Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable for open publication. This is because, under Freedom of Information, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world and not just to one individual.
In most cases, Personal Data is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, as I will explain below.
To confirm or deny whether personal information exists in response to your request could publicly reveal information about an individual or individuals, thereby breaching the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Where an individual is requesting his or her own personal data (whether victim or suspect) the information is always exempt. Such information can be requested under other legislation (please see the advice and assistance section below).
Where an individual is requesting third party personal data (whether in this case information is held or not), the MPS must ensure that any action taken adheres to the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR. To clarify, the Freedom of Information Act only allows disclosure of personal data if that disclosure would be compliant with the principles for processing personal data. These principles are outlined under section 34 of the DPA 2018 and under Article 5 of the GDPR.
Disclosure
I have today decided to disclose the answers held for Question One (1) and Two (2).
The MPS is able to disclose information requested for Question One (1) today. Please see the attached dataset for your information.
In respect of Question Two (2), the MPS can advise that waterways crime is not reported ‘stand alone’ with standard crime figures but are recorded and fully contribute towards BCU (Basic Command Unit)/ Boroughs crime counts.
ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE -
The MPS discloses monthly Borough level offence data at a level that is less likely to risk identifying individuals on our MPS Statistics and Data Crime Data Dashboard (which does allow the public to narrow down to sexual offences) which may be of interest to you;
Right of Access Request Advice -
If the information requested relates to you (for example if you are seeking a crime report where you were victim/witness) then you are able to request it via a Right of Access Request.
In order to make a Right of Access Request please complete form 3019 which is available from any MPS Station, or from the our website www.met.police.uk (select “Request” then “Information: about the police, about yourself or someone else and “Information about yourself or someone else”).
Proof of identification will be required to process a Right of Access Request. This process may also take up to one month (30 calendar days) from receipt of your completed application.
Further Information -
It may be of interest for us to mention the Metropolitan Police has launched an action plan to tackle violence against women and girls. This is available at the following link:
The plan sets out to:
- Increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice for violence against women and girls;
- Improve processes and victim care across the criminal justice system to improve outcomes;
- Reduce the likelihood of women and girls becoming repeat victims;
- Increase women’s confidence in the police and, in doing so, improve the reporting of crimes, which disproportionately affects women and girls in London;
- See an increase in reporting to police, but a decrease in prevalence;
- Intensify work to tackle sexual misconduct and domestic violence by officers and staff.