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Since 2005, members of the public have been able to apply to public bodies for information, documents, photos and videos they hold.
In the intervening years, the number of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests submitted to North Wales Police (NWP) has soared, placing additional demands on the force.
In 2005, 301 inquiries were received. In 2019, NWP received 1,242 requests.
READ MORE: The 5 bizarre scams fraudsters were convinced people would fall for
Numbers dipped slightly during the pandemic. Even so, the 1,183 inquiries made in 2021 were the third highest on record.
Usually, inquiries are sincere and well-intentioned. A few are, at best, eccentric.
A selection of requests are listed below, all answered within the past 12 months.
Note: Requests and responses are summarised except when quotes have been used.
(Image: Getty Images)
Bigfoot
Request: All North Wales Police files between January 2010-2021 that mention non-native creatures or unidentified animals as well as “Bigfoot”, “sasquatch”, “yeti”, “ape figure”, “bear-like” or “wildman”.
Clarification: Non-native creatures or unidentified animals could include “Bigfoot, yeti, wildmam, grassman, hairyman, ape, bear, monkey, gorilla, chimpanzee, chimp, orangutan, caveman, neanderthal, simian, human-like, Woodwose, wodewose, wodewosa and wudwus”.
Response: As this would involve manually checking 155,299 records, allowed costs are exceeded and the request is refused.
Dry stone walling
Request: Details of thefts (or demolishment) of dry stone walls with angled capping stones in North Wales in the 13 months from January 2019.
Response: Three records found, all amounting to criminal damage with a value of under £5,000.
Incidents included the removal by unknown persons of a dry stone wall to the value of around £800.
Abuse of professional footballers
Request: How many cases have involved the abuse of professional footballers, including racial abuse, and how many have led to arrests, between 2017 and February 2021?
Response: No records mentioning “footballer” as occupation or in the incident summary.
Wedding crimes
Request: How many crimes in which the word “wedding” was recorded in reports between January 2018 and April 2020? Same for the word “funeral”?
Response: 76 wedding crimes, 33 funeral crimes. Examples include theft of wedding rings and wedding albums, and theft of items at wedding receptions.
Most cases involved fights and criminal damage at wedding parties. In one incident, a caller said that “whilst attending a wedding in the area, unknown female has set a dog on caller and daughter”.
A number of funeral incidents also involved fights and assaults.
In one case, a woman complained she had not been told ***** had died until after the funeral.
The incident was logged as “Victim/key witness dead or too ill”.
Ghost story
Request: Do the police hold any information on an “enduring ghost story” at Deborah’s Well, Gwernaffield?
It is said that, in 1972, a couple had a “strange experience” there and, the next day, the police were called to the scene.
They found the woman’s handbag containing £90 and concluded it “must have been a visitation of the supernatural”.
Response: No information is held by North Wales Police.
Berwyn UFO
Request: Why is North Wales Police claiming it holds no information on the so-called Berwyn incident near Llandrillo on January 23, 1974, when it has previously supplied information?
“I and others” have previously filed FoIs and received responses which contained “much useful information albeit not always 100% legitimate.”
And did the BBC’s The One Show file an FoI request before a programme on March 2, 2021, which referred to meteors allegedly seen during the Berwyn incident?
Response: No information is held in relation to this request.
Airbnb crimes
Request: How many crimes involving Airbnbs were recorded in 2020?
Response? One crime recorded. The injured party said “two offenders stayed at his Airbnb and took his ***** with them when they left”.
Deliveroo crimes
Request: Details of crimes in 2020 in which Deliveroo was mentioned.
Response: No records found.
(Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Gwrych Castle, Abergele
Request: The number and nature of crimes in the castle’s grounds, buildings and woods in the three years to March 31, 2020 – plus in the area known as Cefn yr Ogof beween the castle and Llanddulas.
(Note: This period pre-dated the castle’s use as a location for the I’m A Celebrity series.)
Response: 24 crimes recorded. Most involved criminal damage. Four involved burglary.
There were also single crimes of theft, arson, assault, wildlife crime and one incident of “sudden death”.
Tiktok crimes
Request: How many crimes involving Tiktok were recorded in 2020? Only first 20 crimes required.
Response: 20 records produced, of which 15 were “crimes” and five were “non-crimes”.
Crimes included indecent photos or pseudo photos of children under 16. Others ranged from hacking to malicious communication. One involved causing a child under 13 to watch a sexual act.
Cases included a video posted on Tiktok by a child using abusive language and throwing a stone at a church window.
Another involved an offender distributing images from his daughter’s Tiktok account.
Revenge porn
Request: How many cases of revenge porn have been reported from April 2015 to March 2021?
Response: A total of 73 cases reported. By age group, they were: 11-15yrs – 1 case; 16-20yrs – 16 cases; 21-30yrs – 31 cases; 31-40yrs – 18 cases; 41-50yrs – 7 cases; 51-60yrs – 2 cases; Age not recorded – 1 case.
Peter Moore
Request: Access to all documents/reports/information related to Peter Moore, aka The Man in Black, a serial killer who operated on Anglesey in 1995.
Response: Request declined as it would involve extensive manual searches.
Sleep crimes
Request: In the 20 years to April 2021, all crimes involving the following words: “Sexomnia”, “Sexsomnia”, “Sleepwalking”, “Sleep sex”, “Sleep assault”, “Sleep disorder” and “sleep conditon”.
Response: No information held in relation to the terms provided.
(Image: Flintshire Chronicle)
Use of police logo
Request: The Londis store in Llanbedrog was displaying an A4 yellow bilingual notice by the till telling customers that only card payments were accepted.
The notice featured the police logo. Can you confirm you gave permission for the logo to be used at this location on this date for this purpose?
Response: The poster was part of Operation Blue Card, a campaign created to deter late-night robberies from small convenience stores during the darker evenings.
The posters were worded to encourage card payments but made a point of not excluding cash.
The operation was a success, cutting armed robberies in small stores during festive periods from an average of 10 to just one.
OnlyFans crimes
Request: A list and breakdown of offences mentioning OnlyFans, the internet content subscription service, in the first half of 2021.
Response: Two crimes listed, both involving the disclosure of private photos and films with intent to cause distress.
Holiday park crimes
Request: How many crimes were reported at Lyons Robin Hood holiday park, Rhyl, and Lyons Winkups holiday park, Towyn, between January 1, 2019, and July 22, 2021?
Response: 10 reports from Robin Hood holiday park, all related to theft.
Nine reports from Winkups holiday park – eight related to theft and one to antisocial behaviour.
These reports include incidents where, after investigation, no crime was found to have been committed.
They also include crimes involving people completely unconnected to these premises.
LGBT+/Pride police cars
Request: How many North Wales Police cars are painted in rainbow/LGBT+ themed colours, and how much does this cost?
Response: “North Wales Police do not have painted cars. For specific events we have magnetic livery that we will apply to a plain police vehicle and remove after the event.”
Cost of magnets was met by the Welsh Government for Hate Crime Awareness Week.
Upskirting
Request: The quarterly number of offences, arrests and charges for upskirting (taking a picture under a person’s clothing without them knowing) from Quarter 2, 2019, to Quarter 3, 2021.
Response: 1 case in Q2 2019, no arrests made.
5 cases in Q2 2020, each resulting in charges.
1 case in Q4 2020 with 1 arrest but no charge.
10 cases in Q2 2021 with 1 arrest and no charges.
2 cases in Q3 2021, no arrests made.
Officers watching porn
Request: Between 2016 and the end of 2020, how many police officers faced allegations of watching porn at work?
Response: Three white male officers. Two officers worked in departments that dealt with such material, so no further action was taken.
One officer resigned.
Theft from tractors
Request: How many GPS screens, domes and satellite guidance systems have been stolen from tractors in the 18 months to June 2021? How many people have been arrested and convicted.
Response: No relevant information held.
Indecent exposure by neighbours
Request: Although it is not illegal to be nude in your own home, how many people have reported their neighbours for indecent exposure in the three years to December 31, 2021?
Response: Eight reports in 2019, three in 2020, eight in 2021.
Offences involving red/ginger hair
Request: A list of crimes and hate incidents in which red or ginger hair was a factor in the offence in the last five years.
Response: 20 incidents recorded – seven in Wrexham, three in Rhyl, two each in Bangor and the Mostyn area, and one each in Caernarfon, Bagillt, Prestatyn, Treuddyn, Mold and Connah’s Quay.
Most were public order offences. Others included assault, harassment and malicious communications.
All but one involved abusive name-calling in which “ginger” was linked to a swear word – such as the Bagillt dad calling his son a “ginger b*****d”.
The exception involved a van driver in Rhyl wolf-whistling a young woman who had “multi-coloured pants and red hair”.
UFO sightings
Request: All reports made by officers or members of the public between January 1 and December 5, 2021, mentioning the words UFO, UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), Lights in the sky, Aliens or Extra-terrestrial beings.
Response: One report, on May 17, in Flint.
“Report is possibly a drone flying in the area (or a UFO as she stated).”
Dating app crimes
Request: How many offences have involved the words “Grindr”, “Tinder”, “Bumble”, “Hinge” and “dating app” between 2016-2020. What was the nature of these crimes and were charges laid?
Response: 45 crimes in total (just one in 2016). Of these, five mentioned Grindr, 17 for Tinder, one for Bumble and none for Hinge. Twenty two records just mentioned “dating app”.
Crimes ranged from malicious communication to rape (female and male), blackmail, stalking and assault without injury. Just one charge laid, but some cases are ongoing.
In addition, four dating scams records were found, all mentioning Tinder.
(Image: PA/Google)
Big Cat sightings
Request: In 2021, a list of sightings of reported to the police of Big Cats ie. larger than a domestic cat, that could have been a puma, leopard, lynx or other large member of the cat species.
Response: Four reports. First was in Chirk in which a person reported a medium dog-sized cat in the church field. Police attended, no sightings.
The second, in Alltami, Mold, involved a “lynx” seen going into woodlands. Rural crime team informed.
The other two reports were in July. A woman in Holywell sent video footage of a “large puma-type cat” recorded at 2.43am. No action taken.
Later in the month, a woman reported seeing a “black panther on her fence” in Conwy. Rural crime team tagged.
Musmatch
Request: For each of the last five years, the number and nature of crimes mentioning the word “Musmatch” (a Muslim dating site).
Response: No records found.
Fuel blunders
Request: In the past five years, how many instances of police officers putting incorrect fuel in their vehicles, and what was the cost of this? How many police vehicles have run out of fuel in this period?
Response: Eight instances in 2017, five in 2018, three in 2019, five in 2020, one in 2021.
Costs were: 2017 – £643.60; 2018 – £594.75; 2019 – 353.30; 2020 – £630.32; 2021 – £115.28.
NWP fuel cards have tags on them as reminders of what fuel to use.
No information held on vehicles running out of fuel.
Sports Direct and JD Sports
Request: How many reports have involved members of the public assaulting staff in Sports Direct and JD Sports shops in the past three years?
Response: Two reports, both in Sports Direct shops and both involving Assault Without Injury.
One involved the store manager, who was poked in the eye by a female shoplifter who he refused to let back into the shop.
In the other incident, a shoplifter pushed a member of staff while fleeing the shop.
(Image: David Hurst/WalesOnline)
Postbox thefts
Request: Thefts involving a postbox, pillar box or mailbox belonging to Royal Mail in each of the past five years.
Response: Three thefts – of a Victorian postbox from a wall, red postbox in a rural location and a “letterbox down a lane”.
Massage therapists
Request: The annual number of sexual assaults or rapes involving a massage therapist (or masseur/masseuse) from 2018-2021 inclusive.
Response: No relevant records found.
Release of wild cat
Request: When will the police be releasing Finlay, the Scottish Wildcat, back to his protectors and enclosure? (Note: This follows the animal’s seizure from an enclosure in rural Conwy run by Scottish Wildcat Haven on February 14).
Response: “The animal is due to undergo examination to determine if it is a European Protected Species.
“Before the animal is released, consultation will take place with the relevant licensing authorities about suitability.
“Currently, the animal is being cared for at a facility by specialised staff.”
