Catalytic Converter Theft (915A/20)
Request
I am seeking information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to the theft of catalytic converters from motor vehicles (including cars, vans and HGVs).
In particular could you:
a) Provide me with the number of reports of “thefts from motor vehicles” logged in your police force area over the last five years that involved the theft or attempted theft of a catalytic converter.
b) Please supply data broken down by year for the last five financial years: 2019/20, 2018/19, 2017/18, 2016/17 and 2015/16.
Response
Please find attached (915A_20_attachment.pdf).
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.