Rural Crime (2461/20)
Request
- Do you have a specific rural crime strategy?
- How many rural crime officers (or officers trained to tackle rural crime) did your force have in the following years?
- 2010
- 2015
- 2019
- Are you able to identify crimes that happen in a rural or urban area when you record crimes on your crime database?
- If answered yes to question 4, can you please tell me how many crimes happened in a rural area and urban areas in the following years?
- 2010
- 2015
- 2019
- What are three most common rural crimes committed in your area in the following years?
- 2010
- 2015
- 2019
Response
Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).
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). 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
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12). We do not have a marker or internal definition for ‘rural’ crime. All crime is recorded based upon geography within the Force, it is recorded by the Neighbourhood Policing Unit where the crime occurred. While some crimes may happen on a farm, or in a field, there is no way to determine whether that would be classed as rural.
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.