Offences of sexual assault from January 2018 to January 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.023125

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please may you provide me with the following statistics on the specific sexual assault that is given under the heading 'Violence and Sexual Assault' on the Crime Map:

1. Total number of reported offences from 2018 - present. Broken down by each year, from January - December. For example, 2018 (January - December), 2019 (January - December) 2020 (January - December) 2021 (January - December).
2. The date of each offence
3. Outcome of investigation

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:

S40(2) - Personal Information

Reason for decision

Before I explain the reasons for the decisions I have made in relation to your request, I thought that it would be helpful if I outline the parameters set out by the Act within which a request for information can be answered.

The Act creates a statutory right of access to information held by public authorities. A public authority in receipt of a request must, if permitted, confirm if the requested information is held by that public authority and, if so, then communicate that information to the applicant.

The right of access to information is not without exception and is subject to a number of exemptions which are designed to enable public authorities to withhold information that is not suitable for release. Importantly, the Act is designed to place information into the public domain, that is, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered public information and must be communicated to any individual.

It has been necessary to ensure an individual’s identity cannot be revealed by the information we disclose, in this instance, the date of each offence.

Furthermore, when data is requested about specific sexual offences, identification of individuals is possible. There is also a potential to reveal whether or not crimes have been reported to us, which in this case, could result in further offending. The perpetrator would be aware that the crime(s) had not been reported to us. Should the offence have been committed against someone known to the offender, they could then repeat offend in the belief that this too would not be reported.

Disclosure

In order to reduce the harm in disclosure, I have decided to provide you with the requested information apart from the date of the offence.