FOI 800/25

REQUEST

 

I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please provide data in calendar years (2020-2024 inclusive), and limit the request to incidents within the South Wales Police jurisdiction:

 

1. Arrests Following Complaints by MPs / MSs

 

1. a) How many people have been arrested following complaints of harassment, intimidation, or related offences made by a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of the Senedd (MS)?

 

1. b) Please provide the year, broad offence category (e.g., harassment, public order, etc.), and whether any digital devices (phones/laptops) were seized during arrest.

 

2. "Intimidating" Social Media Content

 

1. a) Does South Wales Police have internal guidance on what qualifies as "intimidating" content on social media (e.g., videos or recordings of interactions with public officials)?

 

1. b) If such a policy exists, please provide a copy or a summary of the criteria used to make these assessments.

 

3. Use of Raids and Seizures in Harassment Allegations

 

1. a) How many raids or property searches have been carried out under allegations of harassment or intimidation made by elected officials between 2020 and 2024?

 

RESPONSE

 

Question 3

 

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 particular request, the following exemption applies:

 

Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate

A search has been conducted for all crimes recorded under the offence category ‘8L Harassment’ between 1^st January 2020 and 31^st December 2024.

 

Please be advised, the following Home Office codes are recorded under the offence category ‘8L Harassment’:

 

008/29  Breach of conditions of injunction against harassment

008/30  Putting people in fear of violence

008/31  Breach of a restraining order issued on conviction

125/68  Harassment etc. of a person in his home

195/94  Harassment

 

This search retrieved 26,697 results over the requested time-period.

 

We estimate that it would take approximately 5 minutes to individually interrogate each occurrence on our crime and incident recording system (Niche RMS) in order to establish if a raid or property search was carried out.

 

We therefore estimate that it would take in excess of 1,334 hours to answer question 3 of your request.

 

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. If you were to remove question 3, we may be able to assist with the rest of your request.