Theft of Motor Vehicles (1022A/22)
Request
- The number of people aged under 18, divided by the age brackets (Under 10 years of age, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17) who have been charged with theft of a motor vehicle for each of the calendar years ending 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (year to date).
- The age of the single youngest person has been arrested for theft of a motor vehicle for each of the calendar years ending 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (year to date).
- The number of people aged under 18, divided by month, who have been charged with theft of a motor vehicle for each of the calendar years ending 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (year to date).
- The number of people aged under 18 who have been charged with burglary having previously been charged specifically for theft of a motor vehicle for each of the calendar years ending 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (year to date).
- The number of people aged under 18 who have been charged with any crime, having previously been charged specifically with theft of a motor vehicle for each of the calendar years ending 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (year to date).
Response
Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide all of this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).
However, although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded (see attached file 1022A_22_attachment.pdf). I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
REASON FOR DECISION
It is not possible to determine the information with regard to questions 4 and 5, without manually looking into each individual identified in questions 1 and 3. Such a search however, would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12).
This means that the cost of compliance with the whole of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, S.I. 3244.
Further information on section 12 of FOI is available here: