FOI 448628
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 448628
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 19th December 2025. Please find below the response to your request:
I request the following information relating to tool theft in your police force area between January 2021 and December 2025 or the latest available date:
- Total number of reported tool theft offences (including tools stolen from vans, workplaces, homes, or other locations) broken down by year
- Number of tools or tool sets recovered and whether they were returned to victims
- Any recorded data on the estimated total value of stolen tools for each year.
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 2679 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 133 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.
NOTE:
There is no specific offence of ‘tool theft’. This would be recorded as of the several offences of the Burglary or Theft offence groups. There are property fields in the crime recording system however, these are not routinely completed and cannot be relied upon.