FOI Nitrous Oxide Crimes (1212.2023-24)
Request
Since the 8th of November 2023
Q1. How many arrests has your force made of individuals in possession of Nitrous oxide
Q2. How many charges has your force made of individuals in possession of Nitrous oxide
Q3. How many prosecutions has your force pursued of individuals in possession of Nitrous oxide
Q4. How many arrests has your force made of individuals in possession of Nitrous oxide with intent to supply for recreational use
Q5. How many charges has your force made of individuals in possession of Nitrous oxide with intent to supply for recreational use
Q6. How many prosecutions has your force pursued of individuals in possession of Nitrous oxide with intent to supply for recreational use
Q7. How many arrests has your force made of individuals selling/who have sold Nitrous oxide for recreational use
Q8. How many charges has your force made of individuals selling/who have sold Nitrous oxide for recreational use
Q9. How many prosecutions has your force pursued of individuals selling/who have sold Nitrous oxide for recreational use
Q10. How many nitrous oxide cannisters have you confiscated in total
Q11. Where do you dispose of nitrous oxide cannisters that have been confiscated?
Q12. How much has your police force spent on the collection and disposal of nitrous oxide oxide canisters?
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.
In relation to Q3, Q6 & Q9, prosecution data is not held with a specific field within our crime recording system. To extract this information would require a manual review of all reports within the timeframe to determine which, if any are relevant to your request. This manual review would exceed the time allowed under the act.
Furthermore, in relation to Q12, the amount spent on the collection and disposal of nitrous oxide containers is not recorded in such a way that can be extracted without extensive manual review. Any amounts would be absorbed into standard policing costs. To determine how much was spent would exceed the time allowed under the act as a manual review of all financial records from 08 November 2023 to date would be necessary. This would involve hundreds of records, which would further exceed the 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, we may be able to provide information on the number of arrests and charges as well as disposal information if you resubmit your request. If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.