FOI 1001/25

Request

1. How many reports you have received regarding the theft, abuse, or killing of birds from public parks in each year since 2020.
2. How many suspects you have arrested for the theft, abuse, or killing of birds from public parks in each year since 2020, broken down by nationality.
3. How many suspects have been charged for the theft, abuse, or killing of birds from public parks in each year since 2020, broken down by nationality.

Response

Your request for information has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply the information you have requested.    

Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires South Wales Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: 

(a) states that fact,

(b) specifies the exemption in question and

(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

In relation to your request, the following exemption applies:

Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit. 

The data you have requested is not routinely collated in the format that would easily answer your query, therefore, to accurately answer your request we would need to individually interrogate all occurrences recorded to provide the break down you have requested. A search has been conducted on our crime and incident reporting system (NICHE RMS) for occurrences with the occurrence types below:

• AN17 ASB - Environmental
• AN18 ASB - Nuisance
• CR41 Theft & Handling
• CR43 Damage

For the month of January 2024 alone there are 4577 records.

Whilst I cannot quantify exactly how long this would take it would most certainly exceed the 18 hours stipulated by the regulations. 

It is estimated that the cost of providing you with the information is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the "appropriate level" as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

In the case of the police service, the appropriate limit is £450 which has been calculated to equate to a total of 18 hours of work.

If any part of the request exceeds the fees limit, then Section 12 applies to the whole request.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a refusal notice.

Excess cost removes the forces obligation under the Freedom of Information Act, however under Section 16 – Duty to provide advice and assistance, an authority is required to offer an applicant the opportunity to redefine their request within the cost limit. Unfortunately, due to the way in which data is recorded, we can see no feasible way in which you could refine your request.