Aggregate data on criminal activity, squatting, and / or damage in business properties

The request was refused by Cleveland Police.

Dear Cleveland Police,

In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, could you please provide me with the following information for each of the last five years (i.e. 2011 to 2015), and tallied by borough council in which the incidents occurred:

1. Total number of empty business premises (including retail, office and industrial) affected by each of (as a direct consequence of their being empty):
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage
2. Total number of occupied business premises (including retail, office and industrial) affected by each of:
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage
3. Where possible, total value in GBP of the theft or damage to empty business premises (including retail, office and industrial) by each of (as a direct consequence of their being empty):
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage
4. Where possible, total value in GBP of the theft or damage to occupied business premises (including retail, office and industrial) by each of:
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage

If the value in GBP is not known, then please provide the balance of data requested.

Please provide this as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Chait

Freedom of Information, Cleveland Police

This mailbox is for Freedom of Information requests only, and all other
mail will be deleted un-actioned. Your should either contact the
department direct, or contact Cleveland Police via 101.

Thank you.

Cleveland Police

Dear Mr Chait,

Enquiry Ref : 2016/7335

I acknowledge receipt of your enquiry dated and received by this office 30.03.2016 requesting information concerning criminal activity in empty business premises.

As set out by the Freedom of Information Act it will be our aim to respond to your request by 27 April 2016. In some cases, however, we may be unable to achieve this deadline and I would hope to contact you should this be the case.

If you have any questions regarding your request please contact this office.

Yours sincerely,

A.W. McDougall
Freedom Of Information Decision Maker,
Cleveland Police, Shared Service Centre,
Ash House, III Acre,
Princeton Drive,
Stockton-on-Tees
TS17 6AJ

Cleveland Police

Dear Mr Chait,

Enquiry Ref: 2016/7335

I write in response to your request for information dated 30th March 2016.

1. Total number of empty business premises (including retail, office and industrial) affected by each of (as a direct consequence of their being empty):
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage
2. Total number of occupied business premises (including retail, office and industrial) affected by each of:
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage
3. Where possible, total value in GBP of the theft or damage to empty business premises (including retail, office and industrial) by each of (as a direct consequence of their being empty):
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage
4. Where possible, total value in GBP of the theft or damage to occupied business premises (including retail, office and industrial) by each of:
a. Criminal activity
b. Squatting
c. Damage

If the value in GBP is not known, then please provide the balance of data requested.

We have discussed your request with our Crimes recording Analyst.

Firstly we do not have a search-criteria for empty or unoccupied premises.

A search was carried out using the search criteria “uninhabited” for the dates 1st to 2nd April 2015. This brought up 104 files which would require manually retrieving and researching to ascertain if they are pertinent to your request.
ie business premises, criminal activity, criminal damage or squatting. This would be way in excess of the time limit.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1 (1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Sec 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Having contacted the relevant department regarding your request I have been advised that there are many thousands of files that would require retrieving and reading manually to ascertain if they are pertinent to your request and is estimated that this would take in excess of the appropriate time stipulated by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer on the 18th Of October 2004, that is, eighteen hours. This falls under the exemption of 'Compliance exceeding the appropriate limit' covered by Section 12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and as such this work could not be undertaken.
Therefore, please treat this as a refusal notice under S17 of the Freedom of information Act.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The APP College of Policing guidance states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response unless extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced.

Please note the Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.

If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

A.W. McDougall
Freedom Of Information Decision Maker,
Cleveland Police, Shared Service Centre,
Ash House, III Acre,
Princeton Drive,
Stockton-on-Tees
TS17 6AJ