FOI Blackmail Offences (0495-2024/25)

Request
I have been collecting data published by the government on the number of blackmail offences (offence code: 35) recorded by police forces every financial year from 2012/13 to 2023/24. These are published here:

https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fstatistics%2Fpolice-recorded-crime-open-data-tables&data=05%7C02%7CCivilDisclosure%40northyorkshire.police.uk%7Ce72a3521914c461fbe1e08dccda90fa6%7C2c84bc9193af476e9721cdad67cb3ead%7C0%7C0%7C638611373220367761%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=hLflNMspZRL4XaNlJXfN2ygLAacMFdWHunGQcaOTMaE%3D&reserved=0

I am now looking for more information from each force about the ages recorded for the victims in these cases.

North Yorkshire Police’s recorded blackmail offences for each of the years is as follows:
12/13: 11
13/14: 14
14/15: 30
15/16: 70
16/17: 74
17/18: 70
18/19: 158
19/20: 108
20/21: 158
21/22: 297
22/23: 387
23/24: 483

Q1. For each of the financial years since 2012/13, please could you break down the ages recorded for victims of all of the blackmail offences recorded by the force?

Please feel free to group ages. For instance, if there were 50 recorded blackmail offences for one year you could then provide the ages in groups such as: 5 aged 14; 5 aged 15; 10 aged 16; 20 aged 17; 10 aged 18 etc.

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.  

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

Q1. Please see the table below showing the age ranges of victims of all Blackmail related crimes reported in the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2024. 

Please note that I am exempting the exact ages of the victims pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Personal information) and have instead provided an age range for each financial year.  This is to refrain from particular incidents becoming identifiable and consequently the personal details of any persons involved being disclosed.  Please see exemption explanation below.

Please note the figures provided will differ slightly to the crimes from the link provided within your request, as crimes can be transferred or cancelled.

Exemption Explanation

Section 40 (2) Personal information
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.

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 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)).

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 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.