Online Safety Act offenders
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/25/008874/P
Version Date: 20/10/2025
The Performance & Analysis Department has provided the following information:
In your response to FOI request reference 01/FOI/25/008326/S, you kindly disclosed the number of arrests your force has made under Sections 179 and 181 of the Online Safety Act since October 2023 to June 2025 (that being 49 arrests in total).
I would now like to request the following:
* The ethnicity as recorded by your force of all suspected offenders arrested under the Online Safety Act (Sections 179 and 181), covering the same time period as in request 01/FOI/25/008326/S (Oct 2023 to June 2025).
For clarity:
* I am not requesting any information which could lead to the identification of individuals.
* I am requesting only an aggregated breakdown of ethnicity categories as recorded by your force.
Please note there were 49 arrests of 48 individuals. One individual was arrested twice.
| Section 179 (005/28) of The Online Safety Act in Devon and Cornwall between 26th October 2023 to 4th June 2025 | |||||
| Self-Defined Ethnicity | Arrest Offence | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total |
| Any other | Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| White British | Send communication threatening death or serious harm (recordable) | 0 | 12 | 12 | 24 |
| Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) | 6 | 12 | 0 | 18 | |
| Total | 7 | 24 | 12 | 43 | |
| Officer-Perceived Ethnicity | Arrest Offence | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total |
| White - North European | Send communication threatening death or serious harm (recordable) | 0 | 12 | 12 | 24 |
| Send letter / communication / article conveying a threatening message (recordable) | 7 | 12 | 0 | 19 | |
| Total | 7 | 24 | 12 | 43 | |
| Section 181 (138/52) of The Online Safety Act in Devon and Cornwall between 26th October 2023 to 4th June 2025 | |||||
| Self-Defined Ethnicity | Arrest Offence | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total |
| Black Caribbean inc Black British | Send false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety (recordable) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| White British | Cause to be sent by public communication network a false message to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Send false communication with intent to cause harm (recordable) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| White Gypsy or Irish Traveller | Send false communication with intent to cause harm (recordable) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| Officer-Perceived Ethnicity | Arrest Offence | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Total |
| Black | Send false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety (recordable) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| White - North European | Cause to be sent by public communication network a false message to cause annoyance / inconvenience / anxiety (recordable) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Send false communication with intent to cause harm (recordable) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Total | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |