In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is
provided below;
Question 1
This question has now been considered and I am not obliged to
supply the information to you are requesting.
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires
Cheshire Constabulary, when refusing to provide such information
(because the information is exempt) to provide you 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.
Reasons for Decision:
This information is exempt by virtue of the following
sections:
Section 40 (2) The personal data of third parties
Section 40(2) Any information to which a request for information
relates is also exempt information if -
(a) it constitutes personal data which does not fall within
subsection (1) (your own personal data), and
(b) either the first or the second condition below is satisfied
(3) The first condition is:-
(a) in a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs
(a) to (d) of the definition of "data" in section 1(1) of the Data
Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the information to a
member of the public otherwise than under this Act would
contravene:-
(i) any of the data protection principles, or
(ii) section 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to
cause damage or distress), and
(b) in any other case, that the disclosure of the information to a
member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene
any of the data protection principles if the exemptions in section
33A(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (which relates to manual
data held by public authorities) were disregarded.
(4) The second condition is that by virtue of any provision of
Part IV of the Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt
from section 7(1)(c) of that Act (data subject's right of access to
personal data).
The information you have requested is the personal data of third
parties and to release personal data would breach the principles of
the Data Protection Act 1998 and would be unlawful.
Question 2
There is no breakdown as such and an explanation by the head of
the Economic Crime Unit may help as follows:
In 2008/9 there were 108 confiscation orders made by the crown
courts in Cheshire where those convicted were ordered to pay a
total of £2,106,307 from assets identified in their possession. The
courts actually found that these convicted persons had benefitted
from their criminal offending to a total of £10,296,290, however
only £2,106,307 had been identified in assets. Many of these assets
i.e. properties, vehicles and the like were restrained by a court
order, i.e. preventing the owner from dealing with the property as
they wanted. This process means that the property itself is not
physically taken into police possession. The property is then
liquidated by the person against whom the order is made, to satisfy
the court confiscation order. Therefore in answer to the question
raised in the vast majority of cases no property is physically
removed from the criminal, but it is their responsibility to
satisfy the order from assets identified and proved to the
court.
Additionally there was 87 forfeiture orders made by the
Magistrates Court totalling £491,727 in cash seized. This money is
forfeited by the court against the person in whose possession the
cash was found.
Question 3
The money realised from the confiscation process is physically
recovered by the Court Enforcement Unit. Each criminal is given a
time to pay the order i.e. a recognition that the process of
realising assets takes some time, usually up to 12 months. Failure
to pay within this time results in a further default sentence. The
money sent to the Court Enforcement Team is vired to the Home
Office. The cash seized from individuals which subsequently goes to
forfeiture proceedings is banked by Cheshire Police. At the
conclusion of the proceedings the money is vired to the
government.
The government then allocate a proportion of the recovered funds
to the host force based upon the remittance of cash from forfeiture
50%, and the remittance of funds from confiscation 18%.
This money is then utilised by Cheshire Police in the fight
against crime.