Shoplifting (1651A/23)
Request
Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide me with full answers to the following questions:
- How many offences of shoplifting/theft from shops has your force recorded in each month of 2022 and 2023 to date?
- Please break these down by category of item stolen in each month i.e. groceries 250 / electrical 100 / jewellery 25
- If you record the value of items stolen, please list the top five highest value thefts
- If possible please list the top five retailers where the offences took place in each year i.e. Tesco 1000 / Aldi 750
- How old was the a) youngest and b) oldest suspect your force arrested or otherwise dealt with in regard to shoplifting?
- For each of 2022 and 2023 to date, please provide a breakdown of outcomes for shoplifting i.e. 300 charged / 25 cautioned / 10 PND
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 enclosed document / attached file FILENAME). 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). Unfortunately, we do not have data relating to the value of the items stolen, to locate and retrieve this information would require a manual review of all relevant data to see if the information is recorded, this search would exceed the FOI time limit.
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.