FOI 371/25
REQUEST
I would like to have access to any policy or procedural documents relating to missing persons enquiries and investigations within South Wales Police.
RESPONSE
We consulted with our policy unit who have provided the following information regarding your request.
Please see attached document entitled ‘missing-person-policy-v34_Redacted’.
South Wales Police takes instances of missing persons very seriously. Each Basic Command Unit has a specialist team dedicated to missing persons investigations. There is also a dedicated team within the force Public Protection and Safeguarding Unit. This team is available to investigate missing person episodes 24/7. These teams are closely aligned to other specialist resources such as CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation) teams and POLSA (Specialist Search) officers.
The missing persons teams work closely with partners including Adult and Children Services, to ensure each missing person inquiry is investigated thoroughly and expeditiously. CSE Advocates work within the aforementioned CSE teams and deal solely with missing children who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and are regularly reported missing. This is to ensure the safeguarding of the most vulnerable individuals and seeks to reduce the number of missing episodes.
In relation to the redacted information in the attached policy the following exemptions apply:
Section 31 (1)(a)(b) – Law Enforcement
Section 40(2) - Personal Information
Section 31 is a qualified, prejudice-based exemption and the legislators accept that there may be harm if released. The authority is therefore required to articulate the harm that may be caused and consider the public interest arguments for and against the disclosure of the information.
Section 40(2) is an absolute class-based exemption and therefore the authority is not required to consider the public interest in disclosure.
Overall Harm
A disclosure in response to a Freedom of Information request is not a disclosure to the individual applicant but a release into the public domain. It is important that a Police Force safeguards its effective and efficient service and does not disclose information that could undermine that.
Disclosure of the requested information would reveal our tactical capabilities and compromise the prevention or detection of crime and the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. This would hinder future investigations by assisting those who are intent on undertaking criminal activity.
Factors favouring Section 31
By disclosing the requested information, this would provide openness and transparency and better awareness to the public.
Factors against Section 31
The security of the public is of paramount importance and the Police Service will not divulge information if to do so could compromise law enforcement.
Balance Test
Whilst there is public interest in police transparency, there is stronger public interest in safeguarding information which could assist those who wish to disrupt the police service. Therefore, it is our opinion that for these issues the balance test lies in favour of withholding the information.
Section 40(2) - Personal Information
The Data Protection Act covers processing of personal data about a living individual. Personal data means data which relate to a living individual who can be identified-
- from those data, or
- from those data and other information, which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller or any other person in respect of the individual.
Information will “relate to” a person if it is about them, linked to them, has some biographical significance for them, is used to inform decisions affecting them, has them as its main focus or impacts on them in any way.
If we disclosed these details, this would provide significant detail which could identify an individual and would breach the first principle of the Data Protection Act 2018.
In accordance with the Act, this letter represents a refusal notice for this part of your request.