FOI 821/26

Request

For each of the last 5 financial years (2021/22 to 2025/26, or the most recent 5 years for which data is available), please provide:

1. The total number of recorded offences of possession of cannabis (under Section 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971), broken down by year.

- Of those offences, the number that resulted in each of the following outcomes, broken down by year:

1. No further action
2. Cannabis warning
3. Penalty Notice for Disorder (if still in use) or Community Resolution d. Charge/summons
4. If recorded, the estimated average officer time (in hours) or cost associated with processing a single cannabis possession offence from detection to disposal.
5. The number of drug detection dog deployments in each of the last 5 years, and, if recorded separately, the proportion or number of these deployments specifically related to suspected cannabis.

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(1) – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit. 

A search has been conducted on our crime and incident recording system (Niche RMS) for all offences recorded as 92E/92/61/MD71530: Cannabis: Having possession of a class B controlled drug reported between 1/1/2021-31/12/2025. This search retrieved 7484 occurrences.

At South Wales Police we monitor and collate statistical data on crimes, incidents and other data relevant to our daily business. The predominant purpose of this is to identify patterns and trends, so resource allocation and policies can be managed to ensure public safety. The data you have requested is not routinely collated in a format that would easily answer your query, therefore to accurately answer question 3, we would need to individually interrogate each occurrence to determine whether there was a drug detection dog deployment.

We therefore estimate it would take over 18 hours to retrieve the information.  

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, then we may be able to assist with your request.