FOI Strip Searches (0812-2023/24)

Request
Custody detentions and related strip searches: data request
I wish to request post-arrest strip search rates by person characteristics for your police force.
I am requesting the following data:

Q1. For the three (3) financial years: 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 from your custody database I would like an Excel format tables with annual totals for each of the years. For each year, I would like four tables with the annual totals broken down by the following variables:
(Financial) year of detention.
Sex/gender (as appropriate).
Grouped age at time of detention (i.e. under 18, 18 and over)
Self-defined ethnicity.

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. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is usually required to retrieve that information. The number of strip searches conducted in custody following an arrest, along with the specific details of each search, are recorded within the custody detention log. This includes the authorisation of a strip search as well as the outcome of a strip search.  Therefore, to be able to differentiate between the outcomes and the authorisations of searches, as there may be more than one outcome per search, a manual read would be required.   This process would involve reading through over a thousand reports, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

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). We may be able to provide some data in relation to strip searches conducted as a result of a stop and search however, this will not include strip searches conducted post arrest. 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.