January 15, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Serious and Organised Crime
Request: [FOI/13380]
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics Serious and Organised Crime
Subject: Organised Crime Statistics
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 information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken not to supply some the information you have requested and the reasons for this are set out in more detail below. 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
For the years: 2023-2024, 2022-2023, 2021-2022, 2020-2021, 2019-2020 we are requesting information from all police forces via FOI requests.
Specifically, we are interested in the figures/information relating to:
Request 1
Number of organised crime groups in your force area.
Answer 1
As of 18th December 2024, there are 48 Organised Crime Groups operating in Northern Ireland. This number is constantly changing, so producing meaningful numbers on a year by year basis is very difficult. The following link may be of interest in relation to this: 2022/23 Organised Crime Task Force Annual Report and Threat Assessment published | Department of Justice
Request 2
Where these organised crime groups are distributed in your force area.
Answer 2
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 24(1) - NATIONAL SECURITY: Information which does not fall within section 23(1) is exempt information if exemption from section
1(1)(b) is required for the purpose of safeguarding national security.
SECTION 31(1)(a)(b) - LAW ENFORCEMENT: Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30 is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to prejudice - (a) the prevention or detection of crime, (b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
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.
Evidence of Harm:
To disclose any details about the distribution of (number of) organised crime gangs (OCGs) below a force level total would undermine national security and operational law enforcement as well as risk prejudice to current investigations, some of which may be covert. Whilst there is a public interest in transparency to provide assurance that the PSNI is appropriately and effectively engaging with the threat from organised criminal gangs, this should be balanced against the need to protect sensitive police intelligence and ongoing operational activity.
Providing the requested information would reveal specific detail about the real-time police intelligence picture in relation to OCG"s operating at low geographical
areas across the force area. Release of such information to the public at large would enable those engaged in criminal gang activity, potentially including terrorism, to identify what the police may and may not know about organised crime gangs. Particularly
in the event it was to be revealed that no information was held for a specific area, that would identify to offenders that individuals or criminal activity to which they may have links has gone undetected.
Furthermore, if disclosures were to be made by all forces for this national request, a low level intelligence picture of organised criminal gang activity would be revealed which would expose the specific focus of policing targets, including terrorists, across the UK. The security of the country is of paramount importance and the police will not disclose any information that would undermine national security or operational policing.
Public Interest Test
Factors favouring disclosure, Section 24:
Disclosure of the information would lead to a better informed public. The public are entitled to know how public funds are spent especially with regards to safeguarding
National Security.
Factors against disclosure, Section 24:
Disclosure of the requested information would allow inferences to be made about the specific nature of national security related activities linked to organised crime gangs which may or may not take place in low level geographical locations. This would enable criminal groups to take steps to counter intelligence, and as such, disclosure would be damaging to National Security.
Disclosure of the requested breakdown would render national security measures less effective. This would lead to the compromise of ongoing or future operations to protect the security or infrastructure of the UK and increase the risk of harm to the public.
Factors favouring disclosure, Section 31:
Disclosure of the requested information would allow the public to see where public funds have been spent and allow the PSNI to evidence its transparency.
Factors against disclosure, Section 31:
Disclosure of the requested information could compromise police intelligence and subsequently the PSNI's ability to prevent and detect crime. Vulnerable areas could be identified, with disclosure leading to an increase in criminal activity occurring in those areas, placing the public in harm's way.
Modern-day policing is intelligence led and the police share information with other law enforcement agencies as part of their investigation process. Disclosure here could hinder the prevention and detection of crime by undermining this partnership approach to investigations and law enforcement.
Request 3
Number of arrests for drug supply offences (both OCG and non-OCG).
Request 4
Quantity and type of drug commodity seized (both OCG and non-OCG).
Answers 3 and 4
Your request for information has now been considered and we are not obliged to supply the information you have requested.
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 the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states the fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
The following exemption has been applied:
Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
The information requested in Q3 and Q4 is covered by the Drug seizures and arrests Annual Trends 2006/07 to 2023/24 (published 30 September 2024) bulletin and accompanying spreadsheet, which can be found here:
https://www.psni.police.uk/official-statistics/drug-seizure-statistics.