injury incurred during arrest

Summary

The requester asked for the number of public injuries during arrests between 2012 and 2020, but the Isle of Man Constabulary refused the full request due to the disproportionate effort required to search paper records. Instead, the authority provided partial data on injuries identified in electronic records from late 2019, along with statistics on formal complaints and use-of-force forms as indicators.

Key Facts

• The request was refused in part because retrieving data from 11,500 paper records prior to June 2019 would require disproportionate manual effort.
• An electronic recording system was introduced in June 2019, covering 864 custody records by the end of that year.
• Ten arrests between June and December 2019 were identified where a person sustained or alleged an injury.
• A total of 21 formal complaints, civil claims, or dissatisfied customer records regarding injury during arrest were made between 2012 and 2019.
• Only two of the 21 injury-related investigations were upheld or substantiated.

Data Disclosed

• 11,500 paper records
• June 2019
• 864 Custody records
• 10 arrests
• 21 investigations
• 2 upheld or substantiated
• 2012-2019 complaint counts: 3, 2, 3, 1, 0, 3, 4, 5
• 2012-2019 Use of Force injury counts: 0, 0, 0, 1, 5, 0, 0, 1

Exemptions Cited

• Disproportionate effort to retrieve information
• Information not held or structured in a way to permit accurate response

Original Request

could you please tell me how many members of the public have been injured during their arrest between jan 2012 and jan 2020

Data Tables (2)

Full Response Text

Isle of Man Constabulary Freedom of Information Police Headquarters Dukes Avenue Douglas Isle of Man IM2 4RG

Our ref: 1326709 22 June 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 10 June 2020 and which states:

"could you please tell me how many members of the public have been injured during their arrest between Jan 2012 and Jan 2020"

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. To retrieve the information would mean a disproportionate effort and a manual search for information, as such the request is refused. I have detailed below the information that is held with a view to providing you with reasonable advice and assistance in relation to your request. The request made cannot be accurately responded to, as the detailed information recorded regarding arrest and detention of persons is not held or structured in a way which would permit us to provide this information. The recording of arrests prior to introduction of a new electronic system in June 2019 was primarily paper-based, and details of injuries sustained during arrest would be recorded on the paper record which would equate to 11,500 paper records to be searched manually. Since the new electronic recording system was introduced in June 2019 to the end of December 2019 there were 864 Custody records created. The records now produced do not determine how an injury occurred in an easily retrievable form, but some of the information might be contained within the detailed notes kept relating to every detention. In total 10 arrests in June-December 2019 were identified where a person sustained, or alleged to have sustained, an injury during their period of arrest.

Complaints of Injury In addition, providing an indicator covering the whole period requested, complaints made to the police Professional Standards department have also been reviewed and statistics relating to those complaints provided in the table below, with the rationale that if an injury had been sustained during an arrest that the detainee could have made a complaint, if they believed the police were at fault. This collates formal complaints, civil claims and dissatisfied customer records in the period requested which can be identified as relating to an injury during arrest. This is only an indicator as it is appreciated that detainees can decide not to make a complaint, and some injuries would not be reasonable to attribute to the actions of the police. It should be noted that of these 21 investigations only two were either upheld or substantiated. 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Count of Complaints alleging injury during arrest/ detention 3 2 3 1 0 3 4 5 Use of Force In addition, providing an indicator covering the whole period requested, details recorded from Use of Force Monitoring forms were analysed. Recording Use of Force when it is required is a mandatory task for police officers, and in almost all cases would be expected to occur during an arrest, where the person being arrested resists arrest.
The details recorded from the forms indicate whether an injury was sustained by the offender or the officers involved, and also the force(s) used. Of the forms analysed since 2012: 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Person with Injury to offender noted on Use of Force form 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 1

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely