Data for custody detentions and related strip searches from April 2017 to March 2022
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025479
I note you seek access to the following information:
Custody detentions and related strip searches: data request
I wish to examine post-arrest strip search rates by person and offence characteristics and custody suite.
I am requesting data:
- For the five (5) financial years: 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22
- From the MPS custody database (NSPIS)
I would like an Excel format dataset with one-row-per-detained person-occurrence so that I can use pivot tables to generate my own data tables and use other analytical tools to examine the relationship between variables and strip search decisions. This would be analogous to the MPS use-of-force dataset published via the London Datastore.
For each occurrence of a person detained in custody, the variables I am requesting are:
(1) (Financial) year of detention.
(2) Sex/gender (as appropriate).
(3) Grouped age at time of detention (i.e. 10-13, 14-17, 18-21, 22-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46 and over).
(4) Self-defined ethnicity.
(5) Ethnic appearance (IC).
(6) Offence type (from previous FOI publications I believe this will be the ‘first arrest offence’, but please advise).
(7) Demeanour.
(8) Whether strip searched (yes/no).
(9) Any PNC warning markers (I understand these will be ‘as of today’).
(10) Name or anonymised identifier of the custody suite.
Notes:
(a) If for any reason 5 years of data are not available, please provide as many complete and recent financial years as possible.
(b) Limiting the data to include broad categories such as the year of detention and grouped ages will prevent the data being personally identifiable and prevent de-anonymisation.
(c) The grouped ages should be as small as possible, and in any case must allow children to be identified, so as a minimum one group should be 10-17 years old (though ideally it would be split into 10-13 and 14-17).
(d) I am requesting both self-defined ethnicity and ethnic appearance data to support their use in combination to address any data gaps (and to examine consistencies). If only one can be provided for any reason (please explain), I would like self-defined ethnicity.
(e) On the offence type, broad categories would be acceptable if required to avoid small numbers, eg violence against the person, sexual offences, theft, robbery, public order, possession of weapons, drugs offences, fraud, criminal damage and arson, misc crimes against society – these are the categories reported to the Home Office and published as part of their Police Powers and Procedures collection.
(f) Where relevant and possible, please distinguish between e.g. ‘refused’, ‘not known’ and ‘not recorded’ (e.g. for gender, age and ethnicity).
(g) If obtaining the PNC warning markers data would cause my request to exceed the FOIA cost threshold, then they should be excluded
(h) If the name of the custody suite is not possible, e.g. for data protection reasons (though please explain if that is the case), then please replace the name with an anonymised identifier consistent across all data. E.g. Custody suite 1, custody suite
2. The name is less important to me than my ability to examine differences by custody suite.
(i) If it would be helpful for the analyst extracting this data to discuss any aspect of my request, they should please feel free to contact me by email at ( app email given)
(j) If anyone involved in processing this request thinks additional variables would assist in my analysis, and they can be added within the FOIA time/cost allowance, please do add them to the dataset.
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)(3)(a)(b) – Personal Information
Reason for decision
Application of Section 40(2)(3) is subject to whether the disclosure of the information requested would lead to identifying living individuals linked to the misconduct and place information pertaining to them into the public domain. This constitutes personal data which would, if released, be in breach of the rights provided by the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations.
Disclosure
Please find attached data in relation to your FoIA request. I have also provided a link to the data that the MPS actively publish in relation to strip searches which you may find of use.