Recorded crimes of harassment/stalking, malicious communications/threatening behaviour by (RaSP) from January 2020 to September 2022
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.026973
I note you seek access to the following information:
1. How many crimes of harassment/stalking, malicious communications or threatening behaviour were recorded by Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) between January 2020 and September 2022?
Please provide a breakdown giving the month the crime was recorded, the offence and state the outcome of the investigation.
2. How many crimes of harassment/stalking, malicious communications or threatening behaviour were recorded by Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) between January 2020 and September 2022?
Please provide a breakdown giving the month the crime was recorded, the offence and state the outcome of the investigation.
3. How many crimes of harassment/stalking, malicious communications or threatening behaviour were recorded by Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) between January 2020 and September 2022?
Please provide a breakdown giving the month the crime was recorded, the offence and state the outcome of the investigation
4. How many referrals from the Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) were taken on by the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre betweenbetween January 2020 and September 2022?
Please state how many were categorised as high concern, how many as medium concern and how many as low concern?
5. How many referrals from the Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) were taken on by the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre between January 2020 and September 2022?
Please state how many were categorised as high concern, how many as medium concern and how many as low concern?
6. How many referrals from the Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) were taken on by the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre between January 2020 and September 2022?
Please state how many were categorised as high concern, how many as medium concern and how many as low concern?
Clarification - that Parts 1-3 and 4-6 of your request are for the same data, and you were seeking annual totals for January 2020 to October 2022.
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 21 - Information Accessible by Other Means
Section 30(1)(a) Criminal Investigations
Reason for decision
In relation to Parts 1-3 of your request, to release details of any crimes of harassment/stalking, malicious communications or threatening behaviour recorded by RaSP that are subject to an ongoing investigation would undermine the policing of that investigation
In regards to Parts 4-6, I am pleased to inform you that some of the information requested is held by the MPS, but is already in the public domain. Information regarding FTAC referrals in 2020 and 2021 has been disclosed in response to previous FOIA requests. Please see the first and fifth results in the link below:
Publication Scheme - Published Items
Therefore, this information has been identified as being accessible via other means as it is already published. Where information is already in the public domain the MPS are not required to re-publish the data; instead public authorities are required to direct you to the information, which we have done in this instance. This action is in accordance with section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Section 21 - Information Accessible by Other Means - Information which the public authority or any other person is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate (otherwise than by making the information available for inspection) to members of the public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.
Section 30 - Investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities - The release of any details relating to an ongoing investigation, could hinder the prevention or detection of crime and impact upon the investigation. Any disclosure could lead to misinformation on where the current investigation is directed and who may or may not be of interest. The MPS would not wish to reveal who, what and when intelligence is recorded and the extent of their investigations as this would clearly undermine the law enforcement and investigative process. This would impact on police resources and more crime and terrorist incidents would be committed, placing individuals at risk.
There is a need to ensure that any investigation is not compromised by releasing information before the conclusion of a case.
The Police Service is charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the communities we serve. As much as there is public interest in knowing that policing activity is appropriate and balanced this will only be overridden in exceptional circumstances. The area of police interest is a sensitive issue that reveals local intelligence, therefore after weighing up the competing interests I have determined that to disclose any details of a crime(s) that is subject to an ongoing investigation might compromise that investigation. Disclosure under the Act is a disclosure to the world not just to the individual making the request. The release of any information in relation to these crimes, may disclose what evidence is held and may give those who offered any assistance in these criminal acts an insight into the nature and scope of each investigation.
I have determined that disclosure of the requested information may reveal intelligence that would undermine these enquiries and the role and the effectiveness of any ongoing investigation.
Disclosure
The total number of crimes of harassment/stalking, malicious communications or threatening behaviour that were recorded by Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) during the time period of your request is 10.
The following information relates to these crimes, excluding any that are subject to ongoing investigation:
| Recorded Month | Offence | Outcome |
| Jan 2020 | Sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety | Investigation complete: no suspect identified |
| Feb 2020 | Offence of Harassment | Suspect identified; Victim supports; evidential difficulties |
| Feb 2020 | Sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety | Investigation complete: no suspect identified |
| Apr 2020 | Pursue Course Of Conduct In Breach Of Sec 1 (1) Which Amounts To Stalking | Suspect identified; Victim supports; evidential difficulties |
This data was extracted from the Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS) and the following classifications of crimes were included in the search.
Harassment:
008/29 - Breach of conditions of injunction against harassment.
008/30 - Putting people in fear of violence.
008/31 - Breach of restraining order.
125/68 - Harassment etc. of a person in his home.
195/94 - Harassment.
Stalking:
008/65 - Stalking involving fear of violence, protection from Harassment Act 1997
008/66 - Stalking involving serious alarm/Distress
008/74 - Breach of Stalking Order/Interim Stalking Order.
195/12 - Pursue course of conduct in breach of Sec 1(1) which amounts to stalking
Malicious Communications:
008/71 - Disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress
008/72 - Sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety
As ‘threatening behaviour’ is not an offence category in its own right, a search was also carried out for relevant offences that included the terms ‘threat’ or ‘threatening’.
Please note that the above data relates to crimes recorded by RaSP, who may not have subsequently been the investigating unit.
Regarding the second part of your request, for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/10/2022 - 170 referrals were taken on by FTAC from RASP.
The level of concern, at point of referral to FTAC, was as follows:
High – 10
Medium – 117
Low - 43
Please note the referral data relates only to referrals received by FTAC from RaSP and which were then taken on. They do not represent the overall referrals received by FTAC.
Additionally, there may be some small anomalies with the figures shown due to the way our systems operate. The referral figures are only accurate at the time the system searches are run. For example, referral dates on the system used can be overwritten if a case is re-opened. This means if another search was run on the system at a later date, the figures for the same requested time period could differ.