FOI 229862
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 229862
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 16th February 2023. Please find below the response to your request:
Could I please have data on phones stolen/on the street thefts in the past five years for West Mercia please? For example, this could include (but is not inclusive to):
How many phone and bag thefts there were reported, broken down by the year and the months these happened.
Whether they were stolen on bikes, on foot, in cars etc.
The victim’s location at the time of incident i.e. shopping centre, street, car.
Outcome of case i.e. resolved, closed etc.
The location and time of these too please.
Models of phones reported.
Additionally, if there is any data soon to be released at the end of this financial year (April 2022- April 2023) on the above information please supply this too. Ideally information will be statistics and/or graphs.
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. There are over 2000 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.
In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.
Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request. Unfortunately, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed I am unable to identify information that could be supplied within the fees limit.