FOI 381927
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 381927
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 7th January 2025. Please find below the response to your request:
I’m looking for information on the reported number of stolen mobile phones in West Mercia from the following dates:
- Between 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023.
- Between 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024.
Here is my following question:
- How many mobile phones were reported stolen between the two-time frames?
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 “Theft of mobile phone”, whilst there is a field for stolen property this is not routinely completed and cannot be replied upon, therefore we would need to complete a general search of potential relevant offence groups and then search the incident summaries for “mobile phone”. 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.