FOI Reference No: Our ref: FOI-20145/16693 Thank you for your request for information received by West Yorkshire Police on 01 April 2014. Please accept our apologies for the delay in dealing with your request. You requested the following information: 1) How many vehicles does your organisation own/operate? West Yorkshire Police owns 1103 vehicles including plant and machinery. No vehicles are on lease. 2) Please categorise these into cars, vans, trucks and lorries and other? Please see the breakdown of vehicle types in the table below. 4x4 Off Road 37 Agricultural Tractor 1 Box Van 1 Car 699 HGV 7 LGV 80 Motorcycle 50 MPV 15 Pick-up 3 Plant 3 Trailer 7 Van 200 Total 1103 3) Please detail which departments in your organization own/operate these vehicles? All vehicles are owned by the Transport department and are assigned across the Force's districts and departments. Unfortunately West Yorkshire Police are unable to provide you with a breakdown by department as this has been exempted under Section 31(1)(a)(b) (Law enforcement). 4) Please detail whether In-Car/Dash cameras are installed in any of these vehicles? West Yorkshire Police can confirm that 118 vehicles are fitted with in - car video. 5) If the answer to 4) is yes, please detail the name and model number of the camera, the price paid for it and where it was purchased from.
The video system is provided to West Yorkshire Police on contract with Traffic Safety Systems (TSS). The video system is fitted by our own Vehicle Preparation Unit and at the vehicles end of life it is then fitted into a replacement vehicle. Some of these systems are on their third vehicle life with some of the front cameras now over 10 years old. Unfortunately we are unable to provide you with details of the name and model numbers, or price paid, as this is exempt under Section 31(1)(a)(b) Law Enforcement, and Section 43(2) Commercial Interests. 6) Does your organisation have any policy on use of Dash Car cameras? We do not have a policy on dash mounted cameras as we do not fit them to our vehicles, however West Yorkshire Police does hold a policy on in car cameras. This policy is available on the West Yorkshire Police website via the below link; http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/sites/default/files/files/policies/recording_equipment_in_p olice_vehicles.pdf 7) How many accidents were your organisation's vehicles involved in in 2011, 2012 and 2013? Please detail these by year. West Yorkshire Police only hold this information in financial year format. The information provided below includes records of all incidents reported on the incident reporting form (POLVEH) which had a cost associated. Please note that these incidents will also include criminal damage, and glass damage such as chipped windscreens. 2010/11 1161 Incidents at a cost of 965,030 2011/12 1182 Incidents at a cost of 895,219 2012/13 1084 Incidents at a cost of 997,723 8) Which car insurance company do you currently use to insure you fleet of vehicles? From the 1st April the Employers Liability Insurance is provided by AIG. Unfortunately, West Yorkshire Police are unable to provide you with the information requested in relation to vehicles used for covert purposes as to do so would impact on our law enforcement capability and therefore this has been exempted under Section 31(1) Law Enforcement. Additionally we are unable to supply the individual purchase price of in car cameras as this is exempt under Section 43(2) Commercial Interests. Please see Appendix A for the full legislative explanation as to why West Yorkshire Police are unable to provide the information. COMPLAINT RIGHTS
If you are not satisfied with how this request has been handled or with the information provided, please read the advice notice attached to this letter. If you do wish to take up your right of complaint, please remember to quote the reference number above in any future correspondence. Yours sincerely Sue Durham Force Information Manager
Appendix A Our ref: FOI-20145/16693 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates a statutory right of access to information held by public authorities. A public authority in receipt of a request must, if permitted, state under Section 1(a) of the Act, whether it holds the requested information and, if held, then communicate that information to the applicant under Section 1(b) of the Act. The right of access to information is not without exception and is subject to a number of exemptions which are designed to enable public authorities to withhold information that is unsuitable for release. Importantly the Act is designed to place information into the public domain, that is, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered public information and must be communicated to any individual should a request be received. DECISION This letter serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section 17 of the Act provides: (1) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is to any extent relying on a claim that information is exempt information must, within the time for complying with Section 1(1), give the applicant a notice which:- (a) states the fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question, and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. REASONS FOR DECISION The reason that we are unable to provide you with this information is covered by the following exemption(s): Section 31(1)(a)(b) Law enforcement Section 31(1) is a qualified prejudice based exemption and as such I am required to evidence the harm and conduct a public interest test on the exempted information. Section 43(2) Commercial Interests Section 43(2) is a qualified class based exemption and as such I am required to conduct a public interest test on the exempted information. I have laid out my considerations in order for you to understand why these exemptions have been applied. Harm Disclosure of information relating to covert vehicles used by West Yorkshire Police would assist criminals in identifying these vehicles, thus allowing them the opportunity to take steps to avoid detection. As such, disclosure would have an adverse impact on the ability of West Yorkshire Police to carry out its law enforcement role effectively, and therefore prejudice substantially the prevention and detection of crime.
Disclosure of information relating to which vehicles are operated by which district/department would reveal what resources are available. This information may enable police strength to be determined and circumvented by those intent on crime. Factors favouring disclosure Section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) - Law Enforcement The release of this information would help the public understand how West Yorkshire Police utilise their resources, and also help to reassure the public that West Yorkshire Police have a number of different resources available detect and prevent crime. Factors favouring non-disclosure Section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) - Law Enforcement The release of this information would have a negative impact on the communities that the police service are trying to protect, by informing criminals of the types of vehicles owned by specific departments and those used for covert purposes. If each Police Force were to release this information then criminals could start to map which forces use covert vehicles and the types of vehicles used for covert purposes. Law enforcement tactics would be compromised and individuals would be placed at risk as the release of this information would mean that the criminal fraternity would be educated as to the number and types of vehicles used, thus allowing them to deduce our policing capacity in this area and takes measures to evade capture. Factors favouring disclosure Section 43(2) - Commercial interests Disclosure of the information would show how public resources are being used. There is public interest in accountability and justification in what money is spent on and the public are entitled to know that the Constabulary has negotiated a competitive rate for the provision of police equipment. Factors favouring non-disclosure Section 43(2) - Commercial interests Disclosure of information specific to individual commercial arrangements is likely to negatively impact on the commercial interests of the companies concerned. Releasing the individual purchase price of in car cameras would prejudice commercial interests of suppliers as this would give other companies an unfair advantage should they wish to procure similar services from the force, damaging the tendering process. This would also adversely affect the ability of West Yorkshire Police to successfully negotiate the best contract terms possible. Balancing Test When considering whether disclosure is appropriate, I must weigh the strongest reason for disclosure against the strongest reasons for non-disclosure. In this case, the strongest argument lies with non-disclosure and therefore I will not be disclosing this information. Please note that police forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures for capturing the data. For these reasons this response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with responses you may receive from other police forces.