Public Order Act 2023
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/24/002652/G
Version Date: 30/12/2024
My request relates to police use of new powers to police protests, passed in the Public Order Act 2023.
The list of offence codes 2023 has not been updated to include the new powers, so I am using the section name in the legislation to define each law.
Please note my request has six parts.
(1)
Between 03/05/2023 and 28/11/2024, how many arrests has your force made under Part One, Section One of the Public Order Act 2023 - the offence of locking on.
For each arrest, please provide the ethnicity of the suspect. Please provide these as totals (e.g. White British = 5; Black Caribbean = 2).
(2)
Between 03/05/2023 and 28/11/2024, how many arrests has your force made under Part One, Section two of the Public Order Act 2023 - offence of being equipped for locking on.
For each arrest, please provide the ethnicity of the suspect. Please provide these as totals (e.g. White British = 5; Black Caribbean = 2).
(3)
Between 02/07/2023 and 28/11/2024, how many arrests has your force made under Part One, Section six of the Public Order Act 2023 - obstruction of major transport works
For each arrest, please provide the ethnicity of the suspect. Please provide these as totals (e.g. White British = 5; Black Caribbean = 2).
(4)
Between 02/07/2023 and 28/11/2024, how many arrests has your force made under Part One, Section seven of the Public Order Act 2023 - interfering with use or operation of key infrastructure
For each arrest, please provide the ethnicity of the suspect. Please provide these as totals (e.g. White British = 5; Black Caribbean = 2).
(5)
Between 20/12/2023 and 28/11/2024, how many times has your force used stop and search without suspicion powers allowed for under Section 11 - powers to stop and search without suspicion, of the Public Order Act 2023?
For each use of the powers, please provide the ethnicity of the suspect. Please provide these as totals (e.g. White British = 5; Black Caribbean = 2).
(6)
Between 20/12/2023 and 28/11/2024, how many arrests has your force made under Part One, Section 14 of the Public Order Act 2023 - offences relating to Section 11
For each arrest, please provide the ethnicity of the suspect. Please provide these as totals (e.g. White British = 5; Black Caribbean = 2).
The Performance Analysis Department have provided the following information.
As offences/arrests are not recorded by their Acts, we conducted free text searches of ‘Public Order Act’ ‘POA’ ‘POA 2023’ ‘Public Order Act 2023’ as well as some key words from the offences e.g., ‘locking’ ‘tunnel’ ‘transport work’.
This produced a nil return.
We have also searched on both Niche Crime and Dorset Case Custody for offences and arrests with the Main Crime Group of Public Order and Public Order Offences
The results were then reviewed through the occurrence summaries, and none link specifically to the offences listed in the Public Order Act 2023