FOI 1094-2024/25- Police protection

Request:

Our request is to understand the impact on Policing and social care, and analyse the length of time a child remains in Police protection until suitable accommodation is found.

Under the Freedom of Information Law (FOI) we respectfully request the information specified below.

Q1. From 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024 - How many instances have there been of a child being taken into Police Protection in your force?

Q2. For each instance, please provide the length of time in hours that the child remained in Police Protection.

Q3. We are also keen to understand if any children have been subject to multiple instances of Police Protection over the stated period. As such, from the 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024 how many individual children have been subject to Police Protection? For each child, please tell us the number of times they were subject to police protection in the given period

Q4. What are the current arrangements, within your force, to appropriately accommodate a child under Police Protection? For example, where do children sleep or eat when at the Police station awaiting suitable accommodation.

The purpose of this request is to highlight good practice, as well as better understand the impact on the Police and social care of caring for these vulnerable children within the confines of a Police Station, until suitable accommodation is found.

Response:

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police.

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the following information to you.

Q1. 80

Q2. No information held –  this is not reported as officers do not always record the time powers are rescinded.

Q3. There are 4 children that were subject to PP on more than one occasion over the stated period.

1 child was subject to police protection on 3 separate occasions

3 children were subject to police protection on 2 separate occasions

Q4. There aren’t any set arrangements or agreed locations but if children are taken to the police station they are not taken to the custody area, current operational guidance to find suitable accommodation is as follows  -  

- Early phone call to EDT to discuss the case

- In the event that there is a delay in finding a placement:

- Consider alternatives to police station.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.