Shoplifting Coventry (960A/20)
Request
Could you please provide me with the information of the five shops, supermarkets or commercial premises within the Coventry policing area which had the most call-outs for the offence of shoplifting so far in 2020 please and the number of incidents at each location?
Could you also provide the details of the three most high-value incidents of shoplifting at these locations so far in 2020, including the items stolen, full value, were the items recovered and the outcome of the police investigation please (i.e. charge, no further action, etc).
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). Please note that not all values or property categories are recorded or specifically known. We would need to conduct a manual review of all records in order to locate and retrieve this information, this 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.