01/FOI/26/007814/U - Balaclava seizure & crime statistics

Request:

For the period 1 June 2025 to 30 June 2026 inclusive, please provide the following information from all data force wide.

Please electronically search crime-report text fields for the terms:

“balaclava”

“bally”

“face covering”

Please provide:

- The number of unique crime reports containing one or more of these terms.

- A breakdown of these reports by the most commonly recorded offence type.

- The age group of suspects linked to these reports, broken down as:

- under 18;

- 18–24;

- 25 and over;

- age unknown or not recorded.

- The number of these reports that resulted in:

- an arrest;

- a charge;

- no further action.

- The number of occasions during the same period where a balaclava, “bally” or face covering was recorded as seized or recovered by officers, with a breakdown by associated offence type.

I am requesting aggregate figures only. I do not require personal data, crime reference numbers, incident narratives, or a manual review of records.

Response:

Humberside Police can confirm we do hold some of the information you requested.

- The number of unique crime reports containing one or more of these terms.

- A breakdown of these reports by the most commonly recorded offence type.

- The age group of suspects linked to these reports, broken down as:

- under 18;

- 18–24;

- 25 and over;

- age unknown or not recorded.

- The number of these reports that resulted in:

- an arrest;

- a charge;

- no further action.

- The number of occasions during the same period where a balaclava, “bally” or face covering was recorded as seized or recovered by officers, with a breakdown by associated offence type.

No Information Held.

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide information and statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force’s response to your questions should not be used for the comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.