FOI Bail for Sexual Offences (872-2023/24)
Request
We write to make a Freedom of Information Act request in respect of North Yorkshire Police and information relating to suspects who are under investigation for allegations of sexual assault and rape.
We request the following information:
Q1. Please state how many people who are investigated for allegations of rape are released on bail.
Q2. Please state the average length of time it takes for someone to be released on bail while under investigation for allegations of rape.
Q3. Please state how many people who are released on bail for allegations of rape, then go on to be released under investigation. Please also state the average length of time.
Q4. Please state how many people commit suicide whilst either being released under investigation or on police bail for allegations of sexual assault and/or rape.
Q5. Please state how many deaths have been reported by your force to a Coroner where the deceased had:-
a) been under investigation by your force; and
b) the offence was one of rape and/or sexual assault.
Q6. Please state how many cases have been reported to the Independent Office for Police Conduct as a Death or Serious Injury matter by your force where:-
a) a person has died; and
b) had been under investigation for an offence of either rape and/or sexual assault.
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. 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 required to retrieve that information. Whether someone was on bail and then released under investigation is not held in a field that is automatically retrievable. In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review all crimes to determine which, if any are relevant to your request, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.
Furthermore, the time a person spends on bail or under investigation is not recorded in a field which is automatically retrievable. To obtain this information would require further manual review which would exceed te time 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). 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.