FOI 0533-2023/24 - The Number of Mail Received
Request:
Q1. From August 1st 2022 to July 31st 2023, how many parcels (ie. not a postcard, letter, or flat envelope) did your organisation receive? If the precise data isn’t available, please provide an estimate.
Q2. From August 1st 2022 to July 31st 2023, how many letters did your organisation receive? If the precise data is not available, please provide an estimate.
Q3. From August 1st 2022 to July 31st 2023, how many mail items (including packages, letters, and flat envelopes) did you receive that were deemed ‘suspicious’?
This might include:
- Parcels with protruding wires, aluminium foil, or oil stains
- Mail items emitting a peculiar odour
- Greasy or oily patches on the mail item
- Mail items sealed in such a way so as to encourage opening them at a particular end
- Unusually printed address that might include spelling errors
- Adverse physical reaction to the handling of the mail item – e.g., itching or irritation
- No return address or return address that cannot be verified
- Unusual postmark or no postmark
Q4. In relation to question 3, how many of these suspicious mail items actually contained something dangerous / unpleasant / illegal?
This might include:
- Substances and objects which may explode
- Gases which have been compressed, liquefied, or dissolved under pressure
- Flammable liquids and solids
- Biological substances
- Asbestos
- Controlled drugs and narcotics
- Corrosives
- Live creatures, insects, and invertebrates
- Waste, dirt, filth, or refuse
- Weapons and sharp objects
- Poisons, toxic liquids, solids, and gases
- Obscene publications or unlawful indecent images
Please feel free to disregard this question if it will take too long to answer.
Q5. In relation to question 4, how many of these mail items did your organisation report to the police?
Q6. From August 1st 2022 to July 31st 2023, how many unpleasant / threatening letters did your organisation receive?
This might include:
- Letters containing threats to the organisation or a member of the organisation
- Letters containing hate speech
- Letters containing blackmail
- Letters constituting harassment
Q7. If possible, what process do you have in place for receiving inbound mail?
Please select all that apply.
- a) A record is kept of all packages and letters that arrived
- b) All mail items are scanned on delivery
- c) The mailroom is under 24/7 surveillance
- d) All mail is tracked all the way to the end recipient (if an individual)
Please feel free to disregard this question if it will take too long to answer
Response:
Extent of Searches to Locate Information
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information.
Decision
I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.
Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format.
In relation to Q3, Q4 & Q6, the information is not recorded separately, therefore in order to establish whether North Yorkshire Police had received any mail items or letters that were deemed suspicious, or any letters that were unpleasant or threatening in manner, between 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2023, it would be necessary to manually review all recorded incidents to see if any related to your request. This process would involve reading through hundreds of incidents, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.
Please also note that we do not record the number parcels or letters received in Force (Q1&2).
Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, due to the information provided above I am unable to suggest how you may refine your request and still receive the information within the cost threshold If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.
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.