FOI 809-2025 / Aug 2025 / Stalking
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 809-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 6th August 2025 as follows:
Between 2018 to 2025, how many times has a GPS device (such as a location tracker or an Apple AirTag) been reported in cases of coercive control?
Between 2018 to 2025, how many times has a GPS device (such as a location tracker or an Apple AirTag) been reported in cases of stalking?
Please could this information be broken down annually in calendar years in a table format, with a column for each year from 2018-2025.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not available in a readily retrievable format. There is no specific identifier to determine whether a GPS device has been used and no flag or marker to easily identify where this is relevant to an offence. 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. In order to provide an accurate response to your request it would be necessary to review the wider investigation papers in relation to each and every of offence of Controlling/Coercive Behaviour and Stalking on an individual basis. This would equate to thousands of crimes and such searches 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. For Police forces in the UK, the ‘appropriate limit’ is up to 18 hours of work on one request.
In accordance s12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for these elements of your request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request; however, due to the volume of records which would need to be reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to revise your request into one which could be dealt with within the fees limit, even if your request was only reduced to a period of one year.
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