OFFICIAL
Information Rights and Disclosure Unit
Professional Standards and Legal Services Department
Durham Constabulary
Peterlee Police Office
St Aidans Way
Peterlee
Co Durham
SR8 1QR
Tel. No: 0191 3752596
Web Site: www.durham.police.uk
E-mail:
Our Ref: SRT/DC/FOI/695 & 758/15
Date 15th October 2015
This matter is being dealt with by Stephen R Taylor, Information Rights and Disclosure Unit Supervisor, Telephone No 0191 3752596
Dear Sir / Madam,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 695 & 758/15
I write in connection with your request for information dated 20th September 2015 and your subsequent further email of 1st October 2015 in which you sought the following additional information:-
Thank you for the reply. Can you explain in more detail and with examples of why "Confirmation or denial (by citing an exemption or stating no information held) would undoubtedly compromise both law enforcement and the health and safety of an individual. "
Could you also explain who the "business owner for child sexual abuse operations / investigations is"
Can you answer these further questions under FOI, which hopefully will lessen your desire to refuse to confirm or deny.
How many child sexual abuse operations are open?
How many police and staff are involved with child sexual abuse operations currently ?
How many police and staff are involved with child sexual abuse operations in 2014?
What was the budget for child abuse operations and child protection in 2014?
How many public relations and communications police and staff were employed in 2014?
I am required by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to handle all requests in a manner that is blind as to the identity and motives of the requestor. Any information released as a response to a request is regarded as being published and therefore in the public domain without caveat.
Please note that Durham Constabulary’s response to your request is unique and should not be used as a comparison with any other Force response you receive.
Firstly, with regard to your queries:-
It is in some ways difficult to provide more details, in particular by way of examples, without in any way compromising the "Neither Confirm or Deny" response. However, a simplistic answer is to consider if Durham Constabulary (or another force) were to reply to say it held "0" reports, then, anyone who had committed offences would know that they were not under investigation and may feel free to continue to target children re sexual abuse. Likewise if on-going operations were disclosed at an inopportune moment, particularly early in their investigation phase, potential offenders could be driven underground, again, potentially increasing the risk of harm to children who may be targeted by the suspects. However, it is recognised that there are occasions where, to assist in the investigation or for some other reason, details of an operation may have been placed into the public domain. Hence the naming of Operation Seabrook. Nationally, if one force responds with a "Neither Confirm or Deny" response while another gives a full disclosure then individuals may rightly or wrongly draw inferences which may, once again, impact on the service’s ability to protect children.
The business owner for child sexual abuse operations / investigations is our Head of Safeguarding - a Detective Superintendent.
With regard to your other points, following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Crime and Justice Command and Support Services Command of Durham Constabulary. I can inform you that the information you have requested is held in part by Durham Constabulary.
How many child sexual abuse operations are open?
How many police and staff are involved with child sexual abuse operations currently?
I am of the opinion that these questions are simply a rewording of your original question and I believe / would argue that the previous response is appropriate to these questions, and that the exemptions originally quoted at that time remain valid.
How many police and staff are involved with child sexual abuse operations in 2014?
I can confirm that the data with regard to the number of staff involved in child abuse operations in 2014 is NOT HELD by Durham Constabulary. While we will hold information with regard to on-going operations where they exist, we do not retain a finite list of all officers / staff involved in the investigation of an operation once it is closed.
We are able to identify the number of officers / staff working within Safeguarding on a historical basis, but this will include all officers i.e. those deployed in support of operations and those deployed within normal duties.
What was the budget for child abuse operations and child protection in 2014?
The information is not separately held. The funding is part of a wider Public Protection Budget which includes CSE and Domestic Abuse. The total Public Protection Budget was £4.216m
With regard to your final question:-
How many public relations and communications police and staff were employed in 2014?
This question is with regard to a topic that is substantially different to your other questions and, as such, has been recorded as a separate request – our reference SRT/DC/FOI/758/15.
However, for sake of simplicity and completeness I will include the reply in this letter.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Support Services Command of Durham Constabulary. I can inform you that the information you have requested is held by Durham Constabulary.
I have decided to disclose the located information to you in full as follows:
How many public relations and communications police and staff were employed in 2014?
5 members of police staff
0 police officers
I do hope this is of assistance to you.
Your attention is drawn to the below link to our website, which details your right to complain:
https://www.durham.police.uk/About-Us/Freedom-of-information/General/Pages/FOI-Request.aspx
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or contact me on the above telephone number.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen R Taylor,
Information Rights and Disclosure Unit Supervisor
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