South Wales Police have partially revealed figures showing a breakdown of the £250,000 cost of policing the one of the busiest days of the year in Cardiff.
The protests between Welsh defence League and Unite Against Fascism took place Saturday 5 June and involved a huge police operation known as Operation Phoenix. At the time, police said the cost of the operation was £250,000. We received calls to see this sum broken down, so we sent a freedom of information request to the force asking the figure to be accounted for.
Our first request was rejected on the grounds the time taken to gather the information exceeded the appropriate level as specified in Section 12 of freedom of information regulations. We appealed for an internal review for the request and received the same response that finding the full extent of this information would exceed the limit.
South Wales Police, however, did partially release some of the information for the cost of the protest – detailing a breakdown of £34,000 of the total £250,000 sum.
Two breakdowns of costs are given for 25 June and 26 July – with accommodation being the highest costing expense in both breakdowns - £15,830 in total – as well as more than £7,000 in equipment. You can see the full breakdown on costs in a spreadsheet here.
Furthermore we have been encouraged to submit a further request later in the year when submissions for overtime and expenses have been received.
Freedom of information requests refused by South Wales Police
South Wales Police have received 846 freedom of information requests in the last year – 340 of which have been refused for one reason or another. 125 of those rejections were based on Section 12 of the freedom of information act – where the cost of finding the information exceeds the limit, but out of 18 requests for an internal review following a rejection, none were where the request refused on Section 12 grounds. This information was gathered following a freedom of information request.
What do you think of the breakdown of policing costs for this event? Leave your comments below.
