Numbers of Upskirting Offences 2021 and 2022
Publication Number: 1527
FOI Number: 18620
Disclosure:
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties on public authorities:
Unless exemptions apply, the first duty (at Section 1(1)(a)) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held.
The second duty (at Section 1(1)(b)) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
However, where exemptions are relied upon (Section 17 of FOIA), there is a requirement to provide the applicant with an explanation either:
- a) stating the fact
- b) detailing the exemption(s) in question and
- c) why the exemption applies (if not apparent).
Information Request
Please can you provide the following information, broken down by calendar year, for 2021 and 2022:
The number of “upskirting” crimes – section 67A of the Sex Offences Act inserted by Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 – logged by the force in each year.
- Of these, what was the gender breakdown of victims
- How many had a type 1 outcome (“Charge / Summons”)
- How many had a type 14 outcome (“Evidential difficulties: suspect not identified; victim does not support further action”)
- How many had a type 15 outcome (Evidential difficulties: suspect identified; victim supports action”)
- How many had a type 16 outcome (“Evidential difficulties: suspect identified; victim does not support further action”)
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police does hold information relating to all your request.
Second Duty – See below
Fact – See below
Exemption – Not applicable
Essex Police can report as follows:
Caveat: The data is correct as at 12 June 2023
Notes:
- The data was obtained using the Athena Crime Universe and home office code 88/12 - upskirting.
- The outcomes are based on the offences recorded in 2021 and 2022 (as opposed to those disposed in 2021 and 2022). It therefore relates to the same 19 offences shown in the first table.
Results:
Number of Upskirting offences by victim gender – 2021 and 2022
|
2021 and 2022 |
|
|
Male |
1 |
|
Female |
13 |
|
Unknown / Not stated |
5 |
|
Total |
19 |
Number of Upskirting offences by outcome – 2021 and 2022
|
2021 and 2022 |
|
|
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition |
2 |
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
3 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
2 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
1 |
|
Remains under investigation |
1 |
|
Total |
9 |
No further information on the numbers of offences and outcomes by calendar year will be provided by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 40(2) Personal Information as providing a breakdown of the numbers of offences and outcomes by calendar year may allow individuals to be identified.
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
The following article is available via our publication scheme and may also be of interest:
Upskirting Offences | Essex Police
Headline figures for numbers of reported sexual offences in Essex are available within the monthly Essex Police Performance reports published by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex:
Essex Police Performance - Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)