top of page
Search
Writer's pictureEllie Moore

FOI Request: Response from British Transport Police

A couple of weeks ago, I submitted Freedom of Information Request to British Transport Police, as I felt it was important to have up to date statistics to quote in the piece, as well as to inform potential questions for interviewees.


I got in touch via the email listed on their web page on the 10th October, and the statistics were promptly returned to me on the 27th October. I was quite specific in my request, asking for the number of reports received by BTP in England and Wales of Cyber Flashing between May 2018 and April 2019. I also asked for details of the number of arrests and prosecutions or cautions from the same, as well as the number of cases where a suspect was interviewed but no action was taken.

The statistics show that reports of Cyber Flashing to BTP have steadily increased within the last year to April, but also clearly shows there were no cautions, arrests or prosecutions following them, nor were there any interviews of suspects that resulted in no further action being taken.


I then contacted the press office as I wanted to get some more detailed answers from them about why the statistics are like this. They told me an interview is not something they could facilitate, but instead provided me with a statement from Detective Inspector, Ashley Cooper, he said:


"As with other forms of sexual harassment, we believe that cases of cyber-flashing, which can involve the sending of unwanted, threatening or explicit sexual communications, goes largely unreported - either because victims don’t feel the incident is serious enough to report or simply because they don’t know where to turn."


What surprised me in the statement, was that DI Cooper went on to say, "Each offence reported to us can help bring us closer to identifying an offender, which may ultimately lead to their arrest and prosecution," but this is not at all evident in the statistics where, in the 2 months to April, there was, on average, a report every week, and no action was taken against anyone.


I will be discussing the findings from the FOI with my upcoming interviewees, as it is obvious that Cyber Flashing is an issue that is affecting people right now, and perhaps more should be in place while targets wait for the law review's publication in 2021.

13 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page