FOI 2022-1022

You wrote:

May you please give me a list of the Wiltshire Police Vehicle Fleet List from January 1st-December 31st, 2022? That includes vehicles before January 1st, 2022 that are still used in 2022.

Details

-Date: January 1st-December 31st, 2022

-Registration Number Plate

-The Vehicle Make & Model

-Type of Vehicle (Example-Saloon, Wagon etc) -Van's Wheelbase, Roof Size and Numbers of Wheels -Number of Doors (Example: 3-Door, 5-Door etc) -The Role of the Vehicle (Including Armed Response Group) -Roof Number -Marked or Unmarked -The Year the Vehicle was Commissioned -Video Camera (Yes or No)

Our response:

I have considered your request and I am able to provide a partial response to your request. Some of the information relevant to this request is exempt by virtue of Section 31(1)(a)(b) - Law Enforcement.

Section 31 is a qualified prejudice-based exemption and therefore requires Wiltshire Police to establish the harm in disclosure, along with the public interest favouring and against disclosure.

Please see attached spreadsheet for information which can be disclosed. This will include marked fleet vehicles and may include some unmarked vehicles, where disclosure would not cause an harm (i.e. vehicles used for scientific services, pool vehicles etc).

We do not hold the following information relevant to this request:

• Wheelbase
• Roof size
• Number of wheels
• Number of doors
• Roof number

Please note:  Details regarding tactical marked vehicles (i.e. ARVs); some unmarked or covert vehicles; registration numbers; and the use of video cameras in some vehicles is exempt from disclosure. Please see the below harm and public interest tests.

Harm test

Disclosing full vehicle details for our fleet into the public domain would be of value to individuals with criminal or malicious intent. This would seriously undermine the core principles of policing; namely to prevent and detect crime. To provide a full disclosure would cause substantial harm to operational policing and all individuals involved (i.e. police employees and the community), prejudicing our ability to prevent and detect crime and to apprehend and prosecute offenders. This would provide those with criminal / malicious intent the information they would need to avoid detection by officers, or allow them to coordinate an attack on an operational unit, thus affecting the Force’s ability to protect the community.

Additionally, providing information such as a readily available list of vehicle registration numbers (VRN) - albeit these are overtly displayed so they can be, and are intended to be, clearly seen - would be substantially more harmful than the limited availability of the information via the visibility of the vehicles whilst on public roads. In practice, this information is not realistically accessible to a member of the public and is therefore not in the public domain.

To provide a full list of VRNs for marked vehicles allows criminals to benefit from this information, but also increases the risk for members of the public:

• Marked Police vehicles are often exempt from toll and congestion charges, which is facilitated by automatic recognition of VRNs. To disclose a list of these VRNs would allow people to clone the number plates to avoid these charges.

• Decommissioned Police vehicles are sold at public auctions and are often bought by members of the public, therefore reappearing in domestic use. Providing a list of VRNs to be accessible to criminals, such as Organised Crime Gangs (even if out of date), may potentially expose those members of the public to direct challenge and/or harm.

• Detailed listings of VRNs will potentially allow criminal gangs to understand the Force’s capability, through the volumes and types of vehicles operated. For example, the number of ARV and RPU (Armed Response / Traffic) comparative to other models.

• The recent high profile case of Sarah Everard’s murder, and the fact the perpetrator was in a police car when he committed the crime, cannot be ignored. Although this was not a cloned vehicle, the suggestion that a cloned vehicle could also be used in such a crime, and would provide a level of credibility to the driver, is clearly demonstrated.

As such, a full disclosure of vehicle details would allow those with criminal intent to build a picture of the Force’s capabilities and resources, and use this information to undermine law enforcement. This places the community at an increased risk of harm and would impact the Force’s resources if additional resources and tactics are required to counter any harm caused by an adverse FOI disclosure.

Factors favouring disclosure

Placing this information into the public domain would ensure Wiltshire Police are held accountable for our actions, and show we are being as open and transparent with the public as possible. Additionally, disclosure would provide the public with an insight into the financial resources of the Force and how we are utilising the public funding provided to us.

Factors against disclosure

To place this information into the public domain would hinder the prevention and detection of crime, resulting in investigations becoming compromised, as offenders would be able to gain valuable information which would assist them to evade capture. Additionally, disclosing all details regarding our fleet would allow those with criminal intent to gain information regarding the Force’s tactical capabilities and resources. This would therefore provide a tactical advantage these individuals and would negatively impact public safety, in turn undermining the policing purpose to prevent and detect crime and to prosecute and apprehend offenders. As a result, trust in the Force would diminish and an increase of crime would be seen.

Balance test

Wiltshire Police are charged with enforcing the law and preventing and detecting crime. Although there is a public interest in transparency between the Force and the public - in addition to the public gaining an insight into how the Force are engaging with the threat from criminals - there is a much stronger interest in ensuring the safety of the public and that the enforcement of the law and the prevention and detection of crime is upheld. Disclosing information likely to assist offenders would seriously undermine the effective delivery of operational law enforcement, and is therefore exempt from disclosure.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Constabulary, when refusing to provide 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 that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for those aspects of your request.

Exemptions applied:

Section 31(1)(a)(b) – Law Enforcement