FOI 301352
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 301352
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 2nd January 2024. Please find below the response to your request:
Could you provide me with data for the number of reports made to your force in relation to doorstep parcel thefts from January 2022 to December 2022 (where parcels left outside people’s homes have been stolen).
Can the data be sent in a spreadsheet detailing numbers for each month, the value of the property stolen, and, where possible, the description of the items inside the parcel.
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 is no specific offence title for the theft of packages from a doorstep, A keyword search of the incident summary was carried out using the words ‘parcel’, ‘doorstep’, ‘delivery’ and ‘package’; this has returned over 730 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 30 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.