FOI 447523
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 447523
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 15th December 2025. Please find below the response to your request:
Please may you provide me with: the latest information held on crime relating to tool theft in the West Mercia Police Force area between October 2024 and October 2025 (or the most recent 12-month period you have available).
Information should include,
1) Total number of instances of tool theft reported across the year =
2) Total value of tools theft reported across the year =
3) Average value of tools theft reported within the year timeframe =
4) Any additional breakdown of where the tool theft took place (for example, number of thefts from vehicles, number from home, number from a workplace, number from a construction site) =
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 code for Theft of tool. There are over 516 records under burglary and theft with the word tool/tools in summary. 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.