1St September 2006 Policing Absconders The Cost to the Community

Dear Ms Oliver,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REFERENCE 2006/1327
Regarding your letter received by this office on 04 August 2006 requesting information concerning costs of policing the recent incidents at Prescoed and Llanarth Court and the procedure for alerting vulnerable communities of escaped dangerous offenders.
In the case of Aspinall and Elms absconding from Prescoed Open Prison costs were calculated at the time and extra costs specific to the operation were calculated as being £ 8,038.11. This cost represents overtime resulting from the operation and does not include the cost for those officer already rostered to be on duty. A calculation such as this is not routinely done and in this case was a one-off calculation.
With regard to the most recent incidents at Llanarth Court, costs have not been calculated, therefore I conclude that no information is held with regard to your query.
Concerning notification to schools there is no formal procedure specific to these circumstances, this would be part of the Prisons Plan administered by the Prisons Service. However, based on a risk assessment the police may on occasion directly notify schools, though in general awareness is raised through press releases.
I hope this satisfies your query, I attach the Gwent Police FOI Appeals Procedure should you feel dissatisfied with the way in which your request was handled.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Gwent Police. If you have any further queries or require clarification please feel free to get in touch.

Yours sincerely,


Matt Cooper
Freedom of Information Officer
Gwent Police
01495 745366
matthew.cooper@gwent.pnn.police.uk
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