Cautions/arrests for supplying and being in possession of cannabis from January 2020 to January 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.022875

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. The number of cautions given due to cannabis in each calendar year from 2020 to 2022, inclusive to the present day, and separated by ethnicity and age.
2. The number of arrests for cannabis possession in each calendar year from 2020 to 2022, inclusive to the present day and separated by ethnicity and age.
3. The number of arrests for cannabis supply each calendar year from 2020 to 2022, inclusive to the present day and separated by ethnicity and age.

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(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

Providing the data exactly as requested would be likely to lead to the identification, or misidentification, of living individuals. The exact ages, correlated to the ethnicities of these individuals and the caution / arrest data, would mean it more likely that a ‘motivated intruder’ (someone with the means and motive to work out who the statistics related to) could ascertain the individuals’ identities.

Section 40(2)(3A)(a) of the Act provides - You have requested specific record level data. This level of information is not suitable for public consumption. Should the MPS publish crime data at the level requested, it would be at a level that would make the identification of individuals extremely possible. To produce and publish crime related information at a level that would identify the involved parties would not be lawful, fair or in line with our processing commitments. Thus, disclosure of the information at record level is exempt in accordance with section 40(2)(3A)(a) of the Act.

Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 confirms that information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual is Personal Data. The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.

The information sought under your Freedom of Information request is at such a level that, if disclosed, would provide enough detail (crime type, age, and ethnicity) to identify the individuals involved.

In addition, the requested information also constitutes personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures (as defined in GDPR Article 10 and Section 11(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018), specifically information relating to:
• proceedings for an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by one or more data subjects or the disposal of such proceedings, including sentencing.

Disclosure

The information you have requested has all been provided today, just in a slightly aggregated format with regards to age. This can be found below.