FOI 739-2025 / Jul 2025 / Canals & rivers
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 739-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 22nd July 2025 as follows:
I would like to find out the number of crimes reported on canals and navigable rivers (and their banks/towpaths) in your jurisdiction, please, broken down by year over the past five years. If you record this by calendar year, that would be 2019-2024, if it is by financial year then 2020/21 to 2024/25 please.
If possible, I would also like to know the breakdown of these crimes by type, if it doesn't mean too much work and invalidating this request.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the information requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. There is no specific identifier or location type within Crime Recording System to locate offences which have occurred on canals, rivers and their banks and towpaths. 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 crime recorded during the stated period. Given the volume of offences recorded annually by the force, such searches would take an inordinate amount of time and would undoubtedly 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 section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
However, although the limitations of a keyword search have been set out above, I can advise that in order to offer assistance the analyst did conduct a keyword search for all offences, recorded during the stated period, where reference to rivers/canals, including banks and towpaths appear within the MO Description / Incident Summary fields. However, this search brought back 11315 records and it would be necessary to review each one on an individual basis to determine relevance, which would again exceed the fees limit even for a keyword search.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in revising your request if possible; however, due to the volume 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