Crimes committed in parks/commons/heaths from January 2017 to July 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.026118

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to request data on crimes committed in parks/commons/heaths from 01/01/2017 through present.

• If possible, I would like this data provided by calendar month. If that is not possible, then whatever timeframe format is standard will be fine.
• Please provide this information broken down by age (or age group) and by gender – I am interested in offenses committed against women in parks/commons/heaths, but would like to know about offenses against all genders to provide context and for comparability.
• Please provide this information broken down by offense.
• The geography of this request is Greater London (e.g., all 32 boroughs). I will contact City of London Police separately.
• I would like this information provided by the smallest scale possible within your readily available format and within the appropriate cost limit.

I would prefer ward-level data if this is possible. If that scale is not available, then please provide by Safter Neighbourhood Team (SNT) area. If that is not possible, please provide this information by borough.

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 30(1)(a)(i) – Criminal Investigations
Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

You have asked for data in relation to crimes committed in parks/commons/heaths from 01/01/2017 up to the date of your request, broken down by calendar month, age (or age group), gender, offence type, and by ward, or SNT area.

I have made the decision to disclose the information you are seeking, however, due to extremely low figures I am unable to break the data down by ward or SNT area, or by some offence types, as if we were to disclose the information broken down in this way it could identify specific incidents/offences, and individuals concerned. Any such disclosure would identify individuals, and would release sensitive personal information in relation to individuals concerned into the public domain, and would cause harm to ongoing investigations. I have therefore made the decision to provide the information broken down to borough level, and additionally, due to low figures located specifically for burglary figures when broken down by year, I have aggregated these with the total annual figures for robbery.

Section 30(1)(a)(i) – Investigations and proceedings conducted by the public authority - The release of information broken down to the granularity you are seeking could identify specific investigations which would impact upon ongoing investigations. The outcome for some of the offences have yet to be determined therefore, to release any further information would compromise our law enforcement investigative functions. Any disclosure, which would prejudice an ongoing investigation and therefore hinder an individual’s right to a fair trial cannot be in the public interest.

There is a public interest in the transparency of the investigation of crime and providing assurance that the MPS is appropriately and effectively dealing with criminal activity.

However, there is also a strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police investigations, by not releasing information that could hinder that investigation and prejudice the outcome of any legal proceedings.

After weighing up the competing interests I have determined that the disclosure of the further information you have requested but which has not been disclosed in this response, would not be in the public interest. I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being disclosed does not outweigh the considerations favouring non-disclosure, particularly given the level of information disclosed today – which I believe satisfies the wider public interest.

Section 40(2)(3)&(4) – Personal Information - There are six data protection principles that are set out in Section 34 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The first principle requires that the disclosure of the requested personal data must be lawful and fair. Under the Act, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:

a. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
b. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
c. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.

The requested information contains personal data that I consider exempt under the Act, for example, were we to disclose the number of offences broken down by location to ward or SNT level, it is highly likely that individuals could be identified due to low figures when broken down to this level of granularity.

Having considered the data, I have found, having considered the legitimate interest test, that if we were to provide the requested data broken down by ward or SNT level, this would, due to low figures when broken down in this way, identify specific incidents/offences, and by virtue of this, could also identify individuals concerned and release sensitive personal information in relation to individuals into the public domain.

Any such disclosure would not be in accordance with the first principle. Although I understand there is an interest in the number and type of offences that have been committed in specific areas, I believe this interest has been satisfied by the release of the disclosed information. I do not believe that providing any more details, when there is a reasonable risk that the additional information would identify individuals involved would add to any wider public debate that may be ongoing.

Furthermore I do not think it would be fair to the individuals concerned if information was disclosed that identified them as being linked in any way to any incident. For example, a victim would not expect us to disclose the fact that they were such, and may not wish for family, or colleagues, to know they had reported a crime to police; and an individual who was later found to not be involved would be unfairly stigmatised.

Under Section 40(2) and (3) of the Act, Public Authorities are able to withhold information where its release would identify any living individual and breach the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). I have applied this exemption in that the identity of individuals that may be realised through providing the information broken down in the format you have requested would constitute personal data which, if released, would be in breach of the rights provided by the DPA.

Disclosure

Information considered suitable for disclosure is attached.

Please ensure that the data is read in conjunction with the notes page of the attached spreadsheet to ensure correct interpretation of the data provided.