FOI Illegal Abortion (788-2023/24)

Request

Could you please provide the number of offences recorded for:
Q1. Procuring illegal abortion – administering or using drugs or using instruments to procure abortion (Offence code: 01401);
Q2. Procuring illegal abortion – procuring drugs etc. to cause abortion (Offence code: 01402);
in the years 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23.

In each case could you please include the gender of the suspect and the outcome, e.g. charged, no further action, etc.

Response

Decision

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

 

Q1. North Yorkshire Police have 1 crime recorded in 2021, 1 male individual was arrested and charged.

 

Q2. I have decided to exempt any additional information, namely any police reports pursuant to section 40 (Personal Information) and section 31 (Law Enforcement) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please see the exemption below.

 

Exemption Explanation

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

 

Section 31 – Law Enforcement

Section 31 is a prejudice-based qualified exemption and there is a requirement to articulate the harm as well as carrying out a public interest test.

 

Evidence of Harm

As you may be aware, disclosure under FOIA is a release to the public at large. Whilst not questioning the motives of the applicant, disclosing details of crimes committed would allow patterns of offending to be recognised which may compromise Law Enforcement and any future tactics or plans to apprehend offenders. This would be to the detriment of providing an efficient policing service and a failure in providing a duty of care to all members of the public.

 

Police reports relating to a crime are sensitive to the reporting person and albeit it can be redacted to protect their identity, disclosure of such information may impact the future relationship between the victims and the police. This could subsequently also affect any future reports they may wish to make, due to the risk of that information would be released into the public domain, via FOIs.

 

Furthermore, the Police are there to support the public and deliver effective law enforcement, including the investigation of suspects and the protection and safeguarding of victims. Releasing any police reports could compromise the personal safety of any victims if an offender is unaware their crime has been reported and in turn potentially impact any subsequent/future investigation.

Providing details of how specific offences have occurred out may also facilitate future crimes. It is widely known that Freedom of Information is utilised and exploited by criminals to gain intelligence of policing activities. The release of police reports can give other criminals knowledge of how to commit similar, and in some cases more sophisticated, offences.

Information that adversely affects public safety and confidence will have a negative impact on law enforcement.

Factors favouring disclosure under Section 31

Releasing information would allow the public to see the type of offences reported, making them more aware of such offences which would enable them to take any necessary precautions to protect themselves.

It would show how public funds are being spent in relation to protecting the public.

Factors against disclosure under Section 31

Victims could be placed at risk if other potential offenders are unaware of police involvement as the police reports can provide specific details about the offence.

Any offences reported, especially those of a sexual nature or where children or infants are involved, are a very sensitive area and individuals need to ensure that the reports they provided are confidential. Individuals may therefore become reluctant to provide information, which could assist an investigation, due to concerns that the information provided may be requested and released under Freedom of Information requests.

Balance test

The safety of the public is of paramount importance and the Police service will not divulge the information, if to do so would place the safety of individuals at risk or compromise law enforcement.

Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing, ongoing criminal activity and providing assurance that the police service is appropriately and accurately recording and investigating crime, there is also a very strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police reports and those that report crime especially in the highly sensitive areas such as sexual offences and offences involving children.

As much as there is public interest in knowing that policing activity is appropriate and balanced this will only be overridden in exceptional circumstances. It is our opinion that for these issues the balancing test for exempting your request for planning information is not made out.

Section 40(2) – Personal Information

Section 40(2) is an absolute class-based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned.

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to part of your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.