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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-222-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 19th February 2024 as follows:
1) How many parcels were reported stolen for the years 2021; 2022; 2023?
2) What was the total value of the parcels reported stolen for the years 2021; 2022; and 2023?
Please may I request for the information broken down per year requested?
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that there is no identifier on the crime recording system for theft of parcels and, in order to attempt to determine the number of times where this has been a factor, it would be necessary to examine all offences under Home Office code 49/10 – ‘Theft if not classified elsewhere’, recorded in the stated period, on an individual basis. This would take an inordinate amount of time 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 order to provide assistance the business area conducted a keyword search within the MO Description of all ‘Theft if not classified elsewhere’ offences for ‘parcel’, ‘post’, ‘letter’, ‘mail’, recorded in the period 01/01/2021 to 31/12/2023. However, this still returned 566 results and in order to determine relevance it would still be necessary to review each on an individual basis. At 4 minutes per record this would equate to in excess of 37 hours and would therefore still exceed the fees limit even based on a keyword search.
It is also important to note that had this keyword search been possible within the fees limit the response could not be considered accurate in any event. Keyword searches are not carried out routinely as they are not reliable, they will only bring back records where the chosen keyword(s) is present within the MO Description / Incident Summary of an investigation, these are limited free text fields and do not contain all information in relation to an investigation. As stated above, in order to provide an accurate response it would be necessary to review all offences on an individual basis.
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