August 28, 2025 | Incident and Crime Statistics , Anti-social Behaviour
Request Number: FOI/15448
Category: Incident and Crime Statistics – Antisocial Behaviour
Subject: Tampering/Destruction of Life-Saving Equipment
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 information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken to disclose the following.
Request
Could the PSNI please provide the number of incidents relating to tampering/destruction of life-saving equipment near bodies of water over the past five years, broken down by year and by policing district area.
Answer
The following table is based on all recorded offences where property described as Security & safety equipment was classified as either stolen or damaged, where the location type indicated a proximity to water, during the period 1st January - 30th June 2025. The following location types were used to identify relevant records: Beach, Lake, On Water, Reservoir, and Lake/Canal. All identified records had a location type of Lake/Canal. PSNI can confirm that two of the offences were recorded in Belfast policing district and one was recorded in Derry City & Strabane policing district.
Please Note: This is management information based on data extracted from a live system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Jan-Jun 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recorded offences where property described as Security & safety equipment was classified as either stolen or damaged, where the location type indicated a proximity to water | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 |
It may be the case that not all instances of damage/interference of safety equipment are reported to the PSNI, as some may report to the local council who are more likely to be responsible for maintaining the equipment. It may also be the case that some interference will not have met the threshold for recording a crime; any such examples would therefore not be included in the recorded crime data series.