European Arrest Warrants

1. How many arrests under European Arrest Warrants have been made by police officers from your Force since April 2009?

2. What data does your Force collect and retain in relation to EAWs received from other EU Member States, for example, concerning the issuing Member State, the alleged offence (in case of accusation Warrants) or length of sentence to be served (in the case of conviction Warrants), the nationality of the defendant?

3. If held, please provide figures for the numbers of EAWs processed by your Force in the period since April 2009, broken down by issuing Member State, using the following table if it assists:

4. How many of the EAWs processed by your Force since April 2009 were in respect of serious organized crime or terrorism offences? Alternatively, please provide figures for the number of EAWs processed, under each category offence in the following list:

5. For how many EAWs processed by your Force has the length of time between the alleged offence and the EAW issue date been longer than (i) 5 years? (ii) 10 years? (iii) 20 years?

6. What has been the total recorded cost to your Force of operating under the EAW regime since April 2009? What is the breakdown of these costs?

7. Please provide any available records of the additional police time and resources required to operate the EAW scheme since April 2009.

8. Please provide any available information you hold about the projected increase in the number of EAWs handled by your Force in the years 2010-2015.

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

A European arrest warrant may be issued by a national court if the person whose return is sought is accused of an offence for which the penalty is at least over a year in prison or if he or she has been sentenced to a prison term of at least four months. This includes cases where the UK have either issued the warrant or arrested an individual under a warrant issued by another member state.

The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is the UK Central Authority for the administration of European Arrest Warrants therefore any material in respect of these warrants relates to an exempt body. It has been formally acknowledged by SOCA that they have involvement with European Arrest Warrants as national statistics are published within their annual report as well as press releases relating to individual cases, you may find the following links useful:

Soca Annual Report
Trafficker of illegal vietnamese immigrants

Additionally, the below link takes you to a House of Commons Policy document relating to European arrest warrants which may assist: Parliament Briefings

With all this in mind, I have now considered your request and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the 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.

Section 23 (1) (3) Information supplied by, or concerning, certain security bodies. This is a class based absolute exemption.

Section 30 1 (a) (b) (c) Investigations and Proceedings conducted by public authorities. This a class based qualified exemption which means that a public interest test is required.

Factors favouring disclosure for S30
Disclosure of this information would promote openness, showing accountability for how European Warrants are dealt with and the process within public authorities.

Factors against disclosure for S30
Disclosure of the details of offenders, actual offences committed and where/when would prejudice an investigation and the right to a fair trial would be undermined. The prevention and detection of crime would therefore be hindered and this would affect future law enforcement capabilities. If those intent on committing crimes were aware that they were being investigated, they could destroy evidence or take their operations underground.

Balance test

The Police service is tasked with protecting the community and solving crime and they would not disclose information if it would jeopardise those important roles. By disclosing the requested information in this case would mean that criminal investigations would be less effective and the small benefit in increased public awareness would not be adequate compensation for such an impact on society, and his does not outweigh the forces obligations to the public, in the prevention and detection of crime. It is therefore our opinion that the balance lies in favour of non-disclosure of the data requested. 

You may also find the following press releases of interest to you:

• BBC News
• Belfast Telegraph
• PSNI