FOI 672-2025 / Jul 2025 / Tool theft
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-672-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 1sy July 2025 as follows:
We're looking to conduct FOI requests with Police Constabularies across the UK around van theft rates over the past 2 years, the average cost of the theft, most commonly stolen item categories and most commonly broken into van models.
Can we please request information on, if available:
Total number of tool thefts stolen from vans recorded in the last two years in the area (broken down by year).
The average cost of the tool theft from vans over the past two years in the area (broken down by year).
The month when tool thefts peak for each year, based on the number of tool thefts from vans.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response sent 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, and no flag or marker to easily identify whether this has formed part of a crime. Likewise, 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 being taken from a van and then whether the value of items stolen has been recorded. I can advise that Warwickshire Police record in excess of 1500 such offences per year and, even at a very conservative estimate of 2 minutes per record, the work required would greatly 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 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