Written question asked by Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) on Tuesday, 14 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 February 2006. It was answered by Shaun Woodward (Labour) on Monday, 27 February 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Search Warrants

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many search warrants have been granted in (a) East Belfast and (b) Castlereagh district command unit in the last 12 months.

Answer: The Police Service of Northern Ireland do not hold this information on a central record. A large number of police departments would have applied for search warrants in any given geographical area, including for example DCU crime teams and CID officers, senior investigating officers investigating crimes outside the area whose investigation leads to a location within it, and C1 and C2 departments investigating organised and serious crime. To obtain the details sought would therefore involve a manual trawl of records.

Secondary information