FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 11388

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 11^th March 2019. Please find below the response to your request:

·   How many reports of cyber crime have there been across the West Mercia Police force area in each of the following financial years: 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19 up to and including March 11th, 2019

·   In each year, please also provide separate figures for Worcestershire - and state how many reports in Worcestershire led to prosecutions, in each year

·   In each year, please also provide separate figures for Herefordshire - and state how many reports in Herefordshire led to prosecutions, in each year.    

REPLY: Please see the attached tables for all offences where an online/cyber marker has been recorded in West Mercia for the time periods request.  The force is aware that the online/cyber crime marker is not used as robustly as it should be, although the organisation is working to improve the usage of markers of this type. In addition, many incidents are reported and dealt with direct by action fraud rather than being recorded by the forces and only some are referred back to the forces for investigation. The NCA produced figures may provide a more complete picture

Also, the force is unable to link crimes to prosecutions therefore the Event Clear Up Method has been provided as a proxy.