Time & Costing for MISPER's & Vulnerable Persons

Summary

The request sought statistics on police resource allocation, annual missing person incidents, location times, and telecommunications data costs for vulnerable missing persons in the Isle of Man. The Constabulary provided incident counts and time statistics but withheld data on officer numbers and telecom costs citing exemptions related to police tactics and crime prevention.

Key Facts

• The Constabulary does not hold records of the number of officers engaged in an 'average' missing person case as each is dealt with on its merits.
• Missing person incidents dropped from 742 in 2015-2016 to 421 in 2016-2017, rising slightly to 476 in 2017-2018.
• The mode time missing was 2 hours, while the median was 2 hours and 16 minutes.
• The mean time missing was 5 hours and 55 minutes, though this is distorted by a small number of lengthy incidents.
• Information regarding costs for telecommunications data was withheld to prevent prejudice to crime prevention and police tactics.

Data Disclosed

• 742
• 421
• 476
• 2 hours
• 2:16
• 5 hours 55 minutes
• 2015-2016
• 2016-2017
• 2017-2018
• 2018-09-20
• 2018-09-25

Exemptions Cited

• Section 32(1) of the Act: Prejudice to prevention or detection of crime, apprehension or prosecution of offenders, administration of justice, and maintenance of security.
• Section 32(2) of the Act: Prejudice to the exercise of public authority functions regarding ascertaining compliance with the law or improper conduct.

Original Request

Dear Sir or Madame Could I respectfully request the following information in regards to vulnerable missing persons (MISPER); 1) How many Police Officers (Uniform/Force Incident Manager/Section Sergeant etc) and Emergency Services Joint Control Room (ESJCR) staff would be engaged in an average MISPER? 2) Annually how many MISPER's are there? 3) What is the average amount of time it takes to locate a MISPER? 4) What cost does the Constabulary incur when applying for data from the Telecommunications Service Providers (during working hours and out of hours) in respects of assisting the Police to locate the MISPER? Kind Regards

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Isle of Man Constabulary Freedom of Information Department of Home Affairs Headquarters Tromode Road, Douglas Isle of Man, IM2 5PA Tel: +44(0)1624631394 Email: Mark.Britton@gov.im Our ref: 610666 25 September 2018

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 20 September 2018 and which states:

"Dear Sir or Madame Could I respectfully request the following information in regards to vulnerable missing persons (MISPER); 1) How many Police Officers (Uniform/Force Incident Manager/Section Sergeant etc) and Emergency Services Joint Control Room (ESJCR) staff would be engaged in an average MISPER? 2) Annually how many MISPER's are there? 3) What is the average amount of time it takes to locate a MISPER? 4) What cost does the Constabulary incur when applying for data from the Telecommunications Service Providers (during working hours and out of hours) in respects of assisting the Police to locate the MISPER?

Our response to your request is as follows: I have detailed below the information. 1) How many Police Officers (Uniform/Force Incident Manager/Section Sergeant etc) and Emergency Services Joint Control Room (ESJCR) staff would be engaged in an average MISPER? The Constabulary applies the National Decision Making model and advice from the UK College of Policing in respect of Missing persons. The Constabulary do not hold a record of the number of Police Officers involved in the “average MISPER” interpreted to mean missing person. Each case is dealt with on its merits and more information can be found here: https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public- protection/missing-persons/

2) Annually how many MISPER's are there? In the last three most recent 12-month periods (Sep-Aug) 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 Misper Incidents 742 421 476 3) What is the average amount of time it takes to locate a MISPER? Based on Hours missing The modal average (for whole hours missing) corroborates this as accurate with Mode being 2 hours. The Median time missing for same period is just over two and a quarter hours (2:16).
The Mean average time a person was missing for any incident in the three-year period is five hours fifty-five minutes, but this is distorted by a small number of lengthy incidents.
Mode: most common repeated value for time missing. Median: time missing of middle incident, when ranked from shortest to longest. Mean: total time missing for all incidents / number of incidents. 4) What cost does the Constabulary incur when applying for data from the Telecommunications Service Providers (during working hours and out of hours) in respects of assisting the Police to locate the MISPER? The Constabulary neither confirms nor denies that it would use data from Telecommunications Service Providers on the Isle of Man or beyond as it may reveal Police Tactics and capabilities in such cases. As is already indicated the Constabulary manages missing persons predicated upon risk and any other action the Constabulary takes in respect of such enquiries must be proportionate to that risk. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt under section 32(1) of the act as disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice:

(a) the prevention or detection of crime; (b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders; (c) the administration of justice; (d) the assessment or collection of a tax or duty or of an imposition of a similar nature; (e) the operation of immigration controls; or (f) the maintenance of security and good order in institutions (within the meaning of the Custody Act 1995) where persons are lawfully detained.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information requested is exempt under section 32(2) of the Act as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the exercise by any public authority of its functions for

any of the purposes mentioned in subsection (3) or any civil proceedings brought as a result of the exercise of such a function. (3) The purposes are — (a) to ascertain whether a person has failed to comply with the law; (b) to ascertain whether a person is responsible for conduct that is improper; (c) to ascertain whether regulatory action under any enactment is justified; (d) to ascertain a person’s fitness or competence in relation to — (i) the management of bodies corporate; or (ii) any profession or other activity that the person is, or seeks to become, authorised to carry on; (e) to ascertain the cause of an accident; (f) to protect a charity against misconduct or mismanagement (whether by trustees or other persons) in its administration; (g) to protect the property of a charity from loss or mismanagement; (h) to recover the property of a charity; (i) to secure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work; and (j) to protect persons, other than persons at work, against risk to health or safety where that risk arises out of, or in connection with, the actions of persons at work. Or any civil proceedings brought as a result of the exercise of that function. Public Safety, prevention and detection of crime. To protect vulnerable individuals. As section 32 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large. Factors in favour of disclosure A better awareness may lead to more information from the public.

Factors in favour of withholding Law enforcement tactics would be compromised Individuals may be placed at risk The release may hinder the safety of those individuals. May adversely impact on police resources when conducting such searches. Undermine the partnership approach of the police.

In taking these factors into account the Isle of Man Constabulary determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

Please quote the reference number 610666 in any future communications.

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