FOI 591-2025 / June 2025 / Blowtorch burglaries
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 591-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 2nd June 2025 as follows:
For each of the past ten years (2015-2025) what is the number of attempted burglary reports involving use of a blowtorch?
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format. There is no flag or marker to identify where a blowtorch has been used during an Attempted Burglary. 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 this case, in the event that a keyword of, for example, ‘blowtorch’ was used, but this was not entered in the MO Description / Incident Summary fields, even though relevant, then such records would not be returned. Therefore, in order to locate, retrieve and collate the information for this request, it would be necessary to individually review the wider investigation documentation in relation to each and every Attempted Burglary offence recorded during the relevant period.
Due to changes in systems, it is not possible to retrieve annual information prior to 2018; therefore, searches were conducted for all offences relating to Attempted Burglary, recorded during the period 1st January 2018 to 31st May 2025. This returned 3237 investigations and, at an estimate of 5 minutes per investigation, this would equate to 270 hours of work. Therefore, such searches 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 section 12(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 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, even for a much lesser time period.
However, although the limitations of a keyword search have been set out above, should you wish to resubmit a request asking for the specific term ‘blowtorch’ to be searched within the MO Description / Incident Summary fields of Attempt Burglary offences for a stated period, then this could be undertaken; however, it must be understood that any information returned could not be considered statistically accurate and/or definitive and caution would need to be taken when using such data for any further statistical, analytical or evaluative purposes. Further, any information located would be subject to the usual disclosure considerations.
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