Indecent Images

Request Number: FOI/15358

Category: Incident and Crime Statistics - Sexual Offences

Subject: Indecent Images

Request and Answer: 
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold some information to which your request relates and this is being provided to you.
We do not however hold information in relation to request number 4 below. We further consider some of the information you seek in request number 1, 2 and 3 is exempt by virtue of Section 40 of FOIA and have detailed our rationale as to why this exemption applies. We have also provided you with links to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office which we have followed in responding to your request.

Request 1
In the financial years 2020/21, 21/22, 22/23, 23/24, 24/25, how many people aged 16 or under were arrested by your force for creating indecent images of children? Please provide breakdown by year.  

Request 2
In the same financial years, how many people aged 16 or under were arrested by your force for distributing indecent images of children? Please provide a breakdown by year. 

Request 3
In the same financial years, how many people aged 16 or under were arrested by your force for viewing indecent images of children? Please provide a breakdown by year. 

Answer 1, 2 & 3
As the information requested refers to low level data, it has the potential to lead to the identification of individuals and their personal information. Therefore we are exempting the data broken down by specific years and have only provided the total number that have been arrested within the 5 year time scale in the table below. The explanation for this exemption is detailed below the table.

Number of persons aged 16 and under arrested1 for an offence of making/taking, distributing or possession of a pseudo image of children in Northern Ireland:

¹Arrested and processed through police custody

A person may have been arrested for more than one type of offence and across different years. The above figures relate to 71 unique individuals arrested.

The following offences are included:

Making/Taking:
MAKING OF INDECENT PHOTOGRAPHS OR PSEUDO PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDREN
TAKING, PERMITTING TO BE TAKEN OR MAKING AN INDECENT PHOTOGRAPH OR PSEUDO PHOTOGRAPH OF A CHILD
TAKING ETC INDECENT PHOTOGRAPH OR PSEUDO PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDREN
INCITING TAKING PERMITTING TO BE TAKEN OR MAKING INDECENT PHOTOGRAPH OR PSEUDO PHOTOGRAPH OF A CHILD

Distributing:
DISTRIBUTING INDECENT PHOTOGRAPHS OR PSEUDO PHOTOGRAPHS OF CHILDREN

Possessing:
POSSESSING AN INDECENT PHOTOGRAPH OR PSEUDO-PHOTOGRAPH OF A CHILD

Exemption Explained
Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:

    a. states that fact,
    b. specifies the exemption in question and
    c. states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.

The exemptions, as well as the factors the Department considered when deciding where the public
interest lies, are listed below:

Section 38(1) (a) – Health and Safety – Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this
Act would, or would be likely to endanger the physical or mental health of any individual.

Section 40(2)(a)(b) by virtue of Section 40(3)(a)(i) – Personal Information - Information constitutes personal data and disclosure would contravene any of the Data Protection principles.

The full text of exemptions can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.

Section 40
Section 40 (2) of the FOIA is an absolute exemption which means there is no requirement on PSNI to consider whether there is a public interest in disclosure. It is an interface exemption and we must
consider whether release of the information would breach the General Data Protection Regulations
(‘GDPR’) or the Data Protection Act 2018 (‘DPA’) Third party personal information constitutes ‘personal data’ under the GDPR (Article 4) and DPA (Part 1 s.3).

Under the Freedom of Information Act, PSNI must consider if information can be released into the public domain. We have therefore considered whether the disclosure of this personal data is subject to the exemption at Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by virtue of s40 (3)(A)(a).
As information is ‘personal data’, PSNI considered whether disclosure would contravene any of the six data protection principles contained within the GDPR or DPA.

The six data protection principles are good information handling standards which PSNI must comply with in relation to how it handles personal information, including deciding whether to disclose it or not.
In particular, the first principle requires personal data to be processed in a ‘lawful and fair’ manner. In considering whether it is ‘fair’ to any individual to release information about them, PSNI considered the likely expectations of those individuals and the nature of the information involved. Individuals must have confidence that their information is treated sensitively and appropriately by PSNI. The
PSNI has a duty to protect the personal data of all individuals, including officers and staff, and to disclose the broken down as per your Request would be unfair to those individuals. We consider it
would be extremely unfair to those individuals and therefore it would be a breach of the first principle of data protection legislation as we consider those individuals would not have any reasonable expectation that PSNI would not disclose information of this nature relating to them. This information is therefore exempt under section 40 (2) of the FOIA as it contravenes data protection legislation to release it and the PSNI has made the decision to withhold the information.

Section 38
Section 38 is a prejudice-based and qualified exemption which means the public authority must demonstrate that harm in releasing the information exists and carry out a public interest test.

Harm
Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing, providing assurance that the Police Service is appropriately and effectively engaging with the threat from criminals, this should be countered against the need to protect the health and safety of members of the public. As the information requested refers to low level data, it has the potential to lead to the identification of suspected offenders related to this subject matter. This may lead to reprisals from members of the local community.

Public Interest Test
Factors Favouring Release - Section 38
As there is a public interest, release of this information would allow for better informed public awareness and would assist the public in ensuring openness and transparency.

Factors Against Release – Section 38
Publishing this information could lead to the loss of public confidence in PSNI’s ability to protect the wellbeing of any individual. Due to the low level of data, releasing this information into the public domain could create a significant risk to those who may be suspected of carrying out these offences which increases the likelihood of reprisals/attacks against them.

Balancing Test/Decision
Information should not be released, if it is likely to have a detrimental effect on the physical or mental health of any individual. The public entrust the Police Service to make appropriate decisions with regard to their safety and protection and the only way of reducing risk is to be cautious with what is placed into the public domain. Whilst there is a public interest in the openness and transparency of the PSNI, there is a strong public interest in safeguarding members of the public and the ability of the police service to protect individuals. It is for these reasons that the public interest must be against release of this information.

The release of information under the Freedom of Information Act is considered a release into the public domain and not just to the individual requesting the information. Once information is disclosed by FOI there is no control or limits as to who or how information is shared with other individuals, therefore a release under FOI is considered a release to the world.

Request 4
Of these arrests, how many were convicted? Please provide a breakdown by offence.  

Answer 4
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) does not hold any further information in relation to this request. Enquiries made in relation to your requests failed to locate any records or documents relevant to your request based on the information you have provided.

Data regarding convictions is held by the Department of Justice NI and we would advise that this part of the request is directed there.

Accordingly, we have determined that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does not hold the remainder of the information to which you seek access.