Crimes involving online computer games (FOI Ref: 985A 25)

Request

1. For 2024
2. 1. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
3. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13
4. For 2023
5. 1. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
6. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13
7. For 2022
8. 1. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
9. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13

Response

Please find enclosed our response.

Keyword searches are notoriously unreliable, the reasons why searches using this method are not reliable include (but are not limited to) the following: -

1. a) Searches rely on the keywords being spelt correctly with no grammatical errors
2. b) Searches rely on the keywords actually being mentioned in the summary description of the record – if they are mentioned anywhere else within the record but not in the summary, then they will not feature in any results

Q1. For 2024

1. 1. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
2. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13

Q2. For 2023

1. 1. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
2. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13

Q3. For 2022

1. 1. Using the key words ‘Roblox’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘world of Warcraft’, ‘Minecraft’ and ‘FIFA’, the number of reports of crimes involving online computer games.
2. The category of offence under which the report was logged - for example sexual activity of a child under 13

Please note that this data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently, statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area. 

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are considered when interpreting the data. 

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be considered when those data are used.  

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material. 

As recommended as good practice by the Information Commissioner’s Office a version of this response may be published on the West Midlands Police website. 

Additional information 

For further information and data on West Midlands Police see our publication scheme and disclosure log: 

Published items | West Midlands Police 

Right of appeal 

Your attention is drawn to your right to request a re-examination of your case under West Midlands Police review procedure, which can be found at: 

Reviews and Appeals - Freedom of Information - West Midlands Police (west-midlands.police.uk) 

Please note that such an appeal must be received within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the FOI Unit.