Force Aircraft

I would like to request an FOI on Cheshire Police's aeroplane.

1. how many times it has been dispatched in the last 5 years?
2. how much does it cost to dispatch each time?
3. how many times has it been used to gather evidence in the last five years?
4. how many times has it been used to catch criminals in the last five years?
5. how many times has it led to a conviction in the last five years?
6. what is the annual bill of dispatching the plane?

Please can I have these information relating to Warrington as well as Cheshire?

In accordance with section 1 (1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

Please note: we have numbered your questions for ease. We do not hold any information prior to 2006.

Question 1

The aircraft has been deployed a total of 1821 times of which 201 were to the Warrington area.

Question 2

It costs £1400.00 to fly per hour, this includes all staff, base costs, fuel and maintenance.

Question 3

Every flight is used to gather evidence in one shape or form whether it be photographic, searches, pursuits or training.

Question 4

In the above time period the aircraft has been involved in 520 apprehends of which 98 were in the Warrington area. It has also found 57 missing persons of which 9 were in the Warrington area.

Question 5

To obtain this information would require each case to be manually checked on the PNC data base, it is estimated that this would take a considerable amount of time and would exceed the appropriate limit.

The appropriate limit is defined in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which is covered by statutory Instrument Number 3244 of 2004. Furthermore, Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows a public authority to refuse to respond to a request for information where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the above mentioned regulations.

Question 6

The budget for air support is currently £700,000 per annum.