DNA Profiles

I am writing to obtain information about the number of DNA profiles obtained by the force from people who were not convicted of any crime in the period 2nd January 2010 to 12th July 2011.

To outline my query as clearly as possible, I am requesting:

1. The total number of people not convicted of any crime, who had their DNA taken by the force in the period 2nd January 2010 to 12th July 2011.

2. The total number of DNA profiles taken by the force in the same period, 2nd January 2010 to 12th July 2011.

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

I can confirm that the Cheshire Constabulary holds the information requested. However, we estimate that compliance with your request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000. This is currently £450.

The costs relate to the retrieval of information to answer question 1. For the periods in question there are in excess of over 35,000 arrest records and would require a manual examination of each record to determine the outcome. This would take one staff member approximately 5 minutes per record to read through each arrest record to determine the outcome of the case. This it is estimated 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.

Please note that under Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act the duty to assist the applicant the following may help with your enquiry:

From the records the total number of PACE DNA samples received within the DNA Bureau during the period 02/01/10 - 12/07/11 is 10,450.