Police approach to stalking or harassment cases

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.19.012780

I note you seek access to the following information:

On 3 April 2019 the College of Policing / NPCC (National Police Chief's Council) sent an email to all Chief Constables to jointly update them on developments in "in relation to ... the police approach to stalking or harassment cases."

On page 3 of this email, under "3) Police Information Notices in Stalking or Harassment cases" the authors of the College of Policing / NPCC recommend that "Chief Constables should stop the use of Police Information Notices [PINs] and their equivalents immediately."

1. Have the Met-Police decided to follow the advice of the College of Policing /NPCC to stop issuing PINs?
2. If the Met-Police decided to follow the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC: When did the Met-Police stop issuing PINs?
3. If the Met-Police have decided to not follow the advice of the College of Policing /NPCC and decided to continue to issue PINs: What were the reasons why did Met-Police decided against the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC?
4. If the Met-Police have decided to not follow the advice of the College of Policing /NPCC and decided to continue to issue PINS: How many PINs have the Met-Police issued since the 1st of April 2019?
5. If the Met-Police have decided to not follow the advice of the College of Policing /NPCC and decided to continue to issue PINs: How does the Met-Police justify the issuing of PINs in the policing area of the Met-Police whilst other police forces in the UK have stopped issuing PINs (as per the advice given by the College of Policing /NPCC)?

Decision 

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Some aspects of your request appear to be requesting an explanation for decisions that the MPS has made in respect of our harassment and stalking policy. I would like to advise you that although this information is not held in recorded form, a written response has been produced in order to assist and as part of our normal course of business. Please find this below.

Q1 - Have the Met-Police decided to follow the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC to stop issuing PINs?
Yes. This decision was made in December 2019.

Q2 - If the Met-Police decided to follow the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC: When did the Met-Police stop issuing PINs?
The MPS has not stopped issuing Police Information Notices (PINs) yet. This will be communicated to staff and will be included within the harassment policy review in early 2020.

Q3 - If the Met-Police have decided to not follow the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC and decided to continue to issue PINs: What were the reasons why did Met-Police decided against the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC?
The advice was under consideration. A decision was subsequently made in December 2019 to stop issuing PINs.

Q4 - If the Met-Police have decided to not follow the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC and decided to continue to issue PINS: How many PINs have the Met-Police issued since the 1st of April 2019?
Please find below a count of suspect screens where the suspect elimination reason code equals: ‘NG - First Instance Harassment Warning’.  

Police Information Notices (PINS 1 Aril 2019 - 30 November 2019:

Month	Number of PINS
Apr	388
May	381
Jun	401
Jul	429
Aug	288
Sep	351
Oct	338
Nov	266
Total	2842

Q5 - If the Met-Police have decided to not follow the advice of the College of Policing / NPCC and decided to continue to issue PINs: How does the Met-Police justify the issuing of PINs in the policing area of the Met-Police whilst other police forces in the UK have stopped issuing PINs (as per the advice given by the College of Policing / NPCC)?
The advice was under consideration.