FOI Sexual Assaults at 'Barracks' (1170-2023/24)

Request

My request relates to sexual offences investigated by the Service Police. Please note there are four parts to my request.

Please can you provide me with the following:
Q1. The number of reported sexual assaults which took place where the location was listed as ‘barracks’; ‘garrison’ or Catterick Garrison; York Garrison; York Station; Strensall Station between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023. Please include in your response whether the report led to a charge or a summons.
Q2. The number of reported rapes which took place where the location was listed as ‘barracks’; ‘garrison’ or Catterick Garrison; York Garrison; York Station; Strensall Station between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023. Please include in your response whether the report led to a charge or a summons.
Q3. The number of reported sexual assaults where the alleged perpetrator was recorded as being a member of the British armed forces between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023. Please include in your response whether the report led to a charge or a summons.
Q4. The number of reported rapes where the alleged perpetrator was recorded as being a member of the British armed forces between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2023. Please include in your response whether the report led to a charge or a summons.

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.

 

A persons occupation is not mandatorily recorded within a specific field. To determine which reports, if any are relevant to your request we would need to manually review hundreds of files, which would exceed the time allowed under the act. Furthermore, if a persons occupation was recorded at the time of an offence but is later updated or changed a further manual review.

In relation to crimes recorded at specific locations, to confirm which are relevant to your request would require a manual review. This is because the addresses provided in conjunction with the free text search terms, bring back a number of crimes which fit one or both criteria. Having dip sampled the returned crimes, some are not relevant to your request. This manual review would involve hundreds of reports 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, 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.