Police Pursuits

Response

Avon and Somerset Police holds information on the subject you have requested.  However, we will not be able to answer your request without exceeding the appropriate limit.  This is because the information is not centrally recorded and would involve an extensive search of our files to find and collate.  

We are able to identify the number of occasions on which as call card has been opened as a pursuit. However, this would not include all police pursuits, as it would not include any pursuits that happened after attending an incident, such as upon attending a burglary in progress. To identify all police pursuits would require a manual review of all logs recorded on our systems, which we estimate would take far more than 18 hours to complete.  

Similarly, in relation to question 2, we do not have a specific data field in our systems to record the way in which a collision occurred. We categorise Police Vehicle Incidents/Collisions in the following way:   

• CAT1 serious injury/fatal/serious damage   

• CAT2 light/moderate/injury serious damage  

• CAT3 Minor/moderate damage  

This information has been recorded centrally for the timeframe since January 2022. We would therefore be able to provide a breakdown of Police Vehicle Incidents/Collisions by these categories for the period from January 2022 to March 2025. However, to identify the information requested as to the number that followed a police pursuit would require a manual review of each record. With 1,912 records held for this timeframe alone, we estimate this would take more than 18 hours to complete.  

Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for police authorities is set at £450 or 18 staff hours.  This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days in determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it.  

This letter represents a Refusal Notice under the Act.  

If you would like to refine your request, we may be able to supply you with some information that may be of use. Subject to any applicable exemptions, we would be able to provide a breakdown of Police Vehicle Incidents/Collisions into the categories listed above, for the period January 2022 to March 2025.  

We would also be able to confirm the number of call cards opened as a pursuit in each year since 2019. Of those that led to a crime being recorded, we would also be able to provide data on the number of custody records indicating an arrest has been made, along with outcomes, including charges.