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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-678-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 18th July 2023 as follows:
I am requesting a yearly breakdown of the number of incidences of tool and equipment thefts from [privately and business owned] vans reported to your police force, and the value of the stolen tools and equipment. I am requesting figures for the past three years:
In particular, can you provide me with:
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. There is no specific offence of theft of tools/equipment, and no flag or marker to easily identify whether this has formed part of a crime. Further, there is no flag or marker to identify where theft has occurred from a van. In order to determine the information requested it would be necessary to manually review each and every ‘Theft from a Motor Vehicle’ offence, recorded during the stated period, first to determine whether it related to theft of tools/equipment and then whether these were taken from a van. Secondly, it would be necessary to ascertain whether any mention is made as to whether the van was privately or business owned and whether the value of the items stolen had been recorded.
I can advise that for the period 2020 to 2022 there are 6350 ‘Theft from a Motor Vehicle’ offences recorded and, even at a conservative estimate of 3 minutes per record, this equates to in excess of 317 hours of work which would exceed the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e., the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with s12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance; however, due to the number of records which would need to be individually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to reduce your request into one which could be managed within the fees limit.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB