15/07/2025 West Midlands Police Freedom of information Request Reference: 1359A/25
Thank you for your request for information, received 28/1/2025.
Request
I am seeking the information falling to your understanding and use of s177 (above), as per
the original request:
- About the section, to what it refers, the offence, commission of this and use of it
- The number of accusations WMP has raised citing this section
- The number of referrals WMP has made to the ICO about section 177, allegations of the offence being committed
Response
Please find enclosed our response.
For question 1 and 1a.
Please be advised that this is not a valid Freedom of information Act request as it does not
fulfil Section 8 of the Act. It is not a request for specific recorded information, as it asks for
“an estimate” or “an opinion”, and the authority does not have to answer your question if this
would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgement that is not already
recorded.
For question b:
This is not an accusation.
Please note:
West Midlands Police has reviewed the correspondence sent to you, we do not believe it
was appropriate that the paragraph which we consider our “warning” to prevent enforced
SARs to have been included.
Any personal data held by any organisation must be protected, but by its very nature, the
information held by law enforcement agencies is often more coveted, and there are individuals who attempt to obtain information through dishonest means.
The warning about enforced SARs is intended to be used for these dishonest individuals who are attempting to access information of others with some malicious intent.
I am aware that there is no ill-intent behind the requests you have submitted, and I would like to apologise that this warning was issued to you without proper cause.
For question c:
None
This prompted an Internal Review request.