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Our Ref: IM-FOI-2021-1755 Date: 16 August 2021

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

I refer to your recent request for information which has been handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Please be advised that the additional questions that you asked are being responded to separately by the Local Area Policing team.

For ease of reference, your request is replicated below together with the response.

How many arrests/fines or formal action been taken for issues raised above in Broughty Ferry in the last 12 months?

In response to your request, I can first of all advise you that Police in Scotland have the power to arrest an individual where there is sufficient evidence to support a charge against them - either for a common law offence or for a statutory offence where the statute empowers the police to arrest any person contravening its provisions.

There is however no mandatory recording process in relation to arrests as not all offenders are routinely arrested when they commit offences and some may be subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal without ever having been arrested.

However to be of assistance I have provided the following information with regard to recorded and detected crimes for the Broughty Ferry area, for the time period 1 January 2020 to 31 May 2021.

All statistics are provisional and should be treated as management information. All data have been extracted from internal systems and are correct as at 9th August 2021.

The data is extracted by extracting Recorded Crimes using the Date Raised, and then selecting the Police Beats 'C46', 'C47' and 'C48' within Police Division.

Please note, that crimes relating to Covid-19 are not included.

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Recorded Detected Crime Classification 2020 2021 2020 2021 Bail offences (other than absconding) 3 4 3 4 Bladed/pointed instrument (used in other criminal activity) 4 2 3 2 Breach of the Peace 0 1 0 1 Carrying offensive weapons (incl. restriction)* 1 0 - - Common Assault 86 22 63 15 Common Assault (of an emergency worker) 8 1 7 1 Common theft 49 8 6 4 Culpable & reckless conduct (not firearms) 6 3 3 2 Dangerous driving offences 5 2 3 1 Domestic Abuse (of female) 13 4 9 4 Drink, Drug driving offences incl. Failure to provide a 10 4 10 3 specimen Drivers neglect of traffic directions (NOT pedestrian 2 0 2 0 crossings) Driving Carelessly 10 4 9 3 Driving while disqualified 0 2 0 2 Driving without a licence 7 4 7 4 Failure to insure against third party risks 21 9 21 9 Fireraising 4 8 2 1 Fraud 35 25 4 4 Group 2 - Sexual Crimes 21 25 12 19 Handling bladed/pointed instrument* 2 0 2 0 Housebreaking (incl. attempts) - dwelling house 7 0 8 0 Housebreaking (incl. attempts) - non-dwelling 1 3 - - Housebreaking (incl. attempts) - other premises 3 8 2 6 Mobile phone offences 0 1 0 1 Offensive weapon (used in other criminal activity)* 3 0 2 0 Opening Lockfast Places - Motor Vehicle 2 2 1 1 Opening Lockfast Places - NOT Motor Vehicle 5 0 - - Other alcohol related offences 1 0 1 0 Other Group 3 crimes 13 7 6 2 Other Group 4 crimes 1 1 - - Other Group 5 crimes 9 9 8 7 Other Group 6 offences 15 5 8 4 Other Group 7 offences 54 19 30 10 Possession of drugs 13 7 13 8 Racially aggravated harassment/conduct 2 1 2 0 Robbery and assault with intent to rob 4 1 1 1 Seat belt offences 1 5 1 5 Serious Assault (incl. culpable & reckless conduct - 4 0 3 1 causing injury) Speeding offences 95 41 95 41 Stalking 0 3 0 2 Supply of drugs (incl. possession with intent) 0 2 - - Theft by shoplifting 63 14 14 2

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Theft from a Motor Vehicle, Insecure etc 12 7 4 4 Theft of a motor vehicle 8 1 2 1 Threatening and abusive behaviour 55 20 42 19 Threats and extortion 2 2 1 1 Using a motor vehicle without test certificate 7 9 6 9 Vandalism (incl. reckless damage, etc.) 46 32 7 4 Wildlife offences 0 1 - - Grand Total 713 329 423 208

How many police officers patrol Broughty Ferry on an average day/night? Do you increase police officers presence in Broughty Ferry over weekends, summer and public holidays?

With regards to the number of Police Officer deployed in Brought Ferry, your request for information is considered to be exempt in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act).

I can first advise you that information regarding officer numbers and resource distribution across each of the 13 police divisions is available on the Police Scotland website, accessible via the following link: http://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/police-scotland/212598/

It is generally recognised that any breakdown beyond this published level, for example the number of officers based in a particular town or area, is considered harmful to disclose.

On this basis the information requested by you is considered to be exempt in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act).

Section 16 of the Act requires Police Scotland to provide you with a notice which:

(a) States that it holds the information, (b) States that it is claiming an exemption, (c) Specifies the exemption in question and (d) States, if that would not be otherwise apparent, why the exemption applies.

Where information is considered to be exempt, this letter serves as a Refusal Notice that information is held and an explanation of the appropriate exemption is provided.

Section 35(1)(a)&(b) - Law Enforcement

The information requested is exempt, as its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice substantially the prevention or detection of crime and apprehension or prosecution of offenders. If the number of police officers based in a particular town or sub-division were disclosed, experience has shown that it would allow those intent on committing crime or causing disorder to gauge the likelihood of, or to take measures to negate the likelihood of detection. It would allow criminals to plan how best to engage or occupy existing police resources in an effort to maximise their chances of committing serious crime, therefore harming the efficient and effective conduct of the service.

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As a service we have considerable experience of this where organised criminal groups create diversionary calls to divert police resources (e.g. hoax call or deliberately activating intruder alarms) or deliberately create disturbances or commit minor crime (e.g. road traffic offences) with the same aim. In a similar vein we have evidence that criminals actively target specific areas where police numbers are low in order to maximise their chance of success. While it could be argued that such criminal activity takes place without the number of officers on duty being known, it is reasonable to assume that confirmation of the number of officers involved would assist such activity by allowing more accurate judgements to be made by criminals.

This is a non-absolute exemption and requires the application of the public interest test.

Section 39(1) - Health, safety and the environment

The disclosure of the information requested would be likely to increase the number of attacks on operational police officers by those being arrested or who have committed crime. This will be particularly relevant in smaller geographic areas and with a low number of officers on duty. If we disclosed the number of officers on duty (especially where lower numbers are involved) then this could have a serious consequence when large groups are involved in disorder, as they will be aware of the number of resources available to deal with the incident.

This is a non-absolute exemption and requires the application of the public interest test.

Public Interest

I would suggest that public accountability would favour disclosure, given that the information concerns the efficient and effective use of resources by the Service. Likewise, disclosure of the information would also inform the public debate on the issue of policing and contribute to the accuracy of that debate.

Conversely in terms of the exemptions listed above, the need to ensure the effective conduct of the service in relation to the prevention and detection of crime and the public safety considerations involved in the delivery of operational policing clearly favour non- disclosure of the information requested.

I would contend the public interest must always lie in protecting the ability of the police to prevent and detect crime and furthermore our reasoning for withholding information of this nature has been supported by the Scottish Information Commissioner, (Decision 235/2014).

"Whilst she also acknowledges that disclosure of the detailed information requested may give the public some greater insight into the adequacy of resources deployed by Police Scotland, she does not believe this would outweigh the substantial prejudice likely in the event of disclosure, with all the consequent risks. On balance, therefore, the Commissioner considers that the arguments against disclosure should prevail in this particular case. Consequently, she is satisfied, in all the circumstances of the case, that the public interest in disclosing the information is outweighed by that in maintaining the exemptions. The Commissioner is therefore satisfied that the information requested was correctly withheld under the exemptions in section 35(1)(a) and (b) of FOISA"

The full decision can be found at the link below:

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http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/ApplicationsandDecisions/Decisions/2014/201401926.a spx

Should you require any further assistance please contact Information Management - quoting the reference number given.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which Police Scotland has dealt with your request, you are entitled, in the first instance, to request a review of our actions and decisions.

Your request must specify the matter which gives rise to your dissatisfaction and it must be submitted within 40 working days of receiving this response - either by email to [email protected] or by post to Information Management (Disclosure), Police Scotland, Clyde Gateway, 2 French Street, Dalmarnock, G40 4EH.

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of that review, you are thereafter entitled to apply to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner within six months for a decision. You can apply online, by email to [email protected] or by post to Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS.

Should you wish to appeal against the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner's decision, there is an appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law only.

As part of our commitment to demonstrate openness and transparency in respect of the information we hold, an anonymised version of this response will be posted to the Police Scotland Freedom of Information Disclosure Log in seven days' time.

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