FOI 449-2025 / Apr 2025 / Lego

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 449-2025

 

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16^th April 2025 and clarification received on 21^st May 2025 as follows:

 

I am writing under the FOI Act to request records of high-value (over £500 in value) retail thefts involving Lego products since January 2020.

 

More specifically:

 

1. The number of recorded shoplifting and burglary offences where "Lego" is explicitly mentioned in police reports, broken down by year? - i.e. for the whole of 2020, the whole of 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and in 2025 so far?

 

2. A breakdown of locations where Lego thefts were reported, specifying where they occurred?

 

3. The total estimated value of stolen Lego items in recorded incidents, where available.

 

On 16^th April we contacted you for clarification as follows:

 

Please could you clarify, where you have requested information ‘where "Lego" is explicitly mentioned in police reports’ please can you confirm that you are requesting a keyword search for where the term ‘Lego’ appears within the MO Description / Incident Summary freetext fields of investigations?  This can be undertaken but please note that 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 limited free text fields.  Therefore, any information retrieved in this way could not be assumed to be an entirely accurate representation and should be treated with caution. 

 

On 21^st May 2025 you provided the following clarification:

 

Yes I am requesting a keyword search for where the term ‘Lego’ appears within the MO Description / Incident Summary freetext fields of investigations.

 

Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.  When reviewing the Information please note the following:

 

• Information was obtained by searching all Burglary and Theft offences, recorded during the period 1^st January 2020 and 30th April 2025 (the date your request was received) which include mention of the keyword ‘Lego’ (along with different spellings and capitalisation) within the MO Description / Incident Summary free text fields.

 

• It is important to note that 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; therefore, in the event that a stated keyword is relevant to an offence, but where it has not been mentioned within either of the free text fields, then such records will not be returned.  Therefore, the information provided should not be considered statistically accurate and/or definitive and caution should be taken when using this data for any further statistical, analytical or evaluative purposes.

 

• For Q3, information has been provided based on where cost is mentioned within the MO Description / Incident Summary; however, there are 14 records where the cost is not mentioned.

 

Q1 response:

 

Year	Total
2020	10
2021	6
2022	3
2023	4
2024	15
2025	4
Grand total	42

 

Q2 response:

 

Location Premise	Total
Asda	1
B&M	18
Garden Centre	2
Home Bargains	1
Sainsburys	4
Tesco	2
The Entertainer	1
The Factory Shop	1
W H Smith	7
Waterstones	5
Grand Total	42

 

Q3 response:

 

Estimated Cost	Total	Total Estimated Cost where stated
< £500.00	23	£4,381.41
> £500.00	5	£3,923.72
Not Stated	14	Not stated
Grand Total	42	£8,305.13

 

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

[email protected]