Stolen Parcels (5A/24)

1 February 2024 | Incident and Crime Statistics

Request

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). I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fee’s regulations for the remainder of the request.

 

1.Could you provide me with data for the number of reports made to your force in relation to doorstep parcel thefts from January 2022 to December 2022 (where parcels left outside people’s homes have been stolen).

We have searched for “Theft of mail” and then a keyword search “parcel”.

 

Keyword searches are notoriously unreliable, the reasons why searches using this method are not reliable include (but are not limited to) the following: –

1. a) Searches rely on the keywords being spelt correctly with no grammatical errors
2. b) Searches rely on the keywords actually being mentioned in the summary description of the record – if they are mentioned anywhere else within the record but not in the summary, then they will not feature in any results

 

For the location House/Flat/Apartment/Driveway:

 

Out of 24 records relating to ‘Theft of Mail’

15 records contained the KEYWORD ‘Parcel’ in the Incident Summary

 9 records did not contain the KEYWORD ‘Parcel’ in the Incident Summary

 

All Locations – Out of 483 records relating to ‘Theft of Mail’

 

291 records contained the KEYWORD ‘Parcel’ in the Incident Summary

192 records did not contain the KEYWORD ‘Parcel’ in the Incident Summary

 

 

 

 

Location Description	Jan-22	Feb-22	Mar-22	Apr-22	May-22	Jun-22	Jul-22	Aug-22	Sep-22	Oct-22	Nov-22	Dec-22	Total
House/Flat/ Apartment/Driveway	3	2	2	1	0	2	0	2	2	0	1	0	15
Outside	1	0	0	1	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	7
Hospital/Hospice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Shop/Store/ Supermarket	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Warehouse/ Distribution Centre	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Other	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Not Stated	21	22	15	10	14	14	14	17	29	33	25	49	263
Total	25	24	18	12	19	17	16	20	31	34	26	49	291

 

 

2.Can the data be sent in a spreadsheet detailing numbers for each month, the value of the property stolen, and, where possible, the description of the items inside the parcel 

 

 

Location/Property Description	Jan-22	Feb-22	Mar-22	Apr-22	May-22	Jun-22	Jul-22	Aug-22	Sep-22	Oct-22	Nov-22	Dec-22	Total
House/Flat/ Apartment/Driveway	3	2	2	1	0	2	0	2	2	0	1	0	15
LAPTOP	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
PHONE CASE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
POST – LETTER	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4
PRINTER	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
TABLET	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
–	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	7
Outside	1	0	0	1	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	7
FAN	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
–	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6
Hospital/Hospice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
–	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Shop/Store/ Supermarket	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
–	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Warehouse/ Distribution Centre	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
LAPTOP	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Other	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
POST – LETTER	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
–	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Not Stated	23	23	15	10	14	15	14	17	30	36	25	49	271
AUDIO-HEADPHONES	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	8
AUDIO-SPEAKERS	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	3
BASEBALL BAT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
BEDDING	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
CAMERA	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3
CANDELABRUM /	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
CLOTHING-ACCESSORIES	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
COSMETICS-COSMETICS	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
DISHWASHER	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
DRESS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
FOODSTUFFS-MISCELLANEOUS	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
FURNITURE-CHAIR	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
GAMES CONSOLE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
GRAPHICS/SOUN	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
HD EXTERNAL	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
JACKET	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
KEYS & SECURITY	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
LAPTOP	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
MEMORY CARD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
MOBILE PHONE	3	1	1	1	4	4	4	3	0	2	1	0	24
MONITOR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
NECKLACE-JEWEL / STONE	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
PERFUME	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
PHONE ACCESSO	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
PHONE CASE	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
POST – LETTER	2	6	1	0	1	0	1	2	1	4	2	16	36
SPORTSWEAR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
STOP WATCH – D	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
TABLET	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	4
TEXTILES-MATERIAL	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
TIGHTS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
TRAINERS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
WALLET / PURS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
WIG (TOUPEE)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
WRIST – GENTS	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2
WRIST – LADIE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
–	12	10	12	7	5	6	7	9	25	22	17	24	156
Total	27	25	18	12	19	18	16	20	32	37	26	49	299

“- “in the above table indicates unknown / not recorded

REASON FOR DECISION

Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12).

The value / cost of an item is not recorded in a retrievable format and in order to locate this information would mean a manual search of each record.

299 x 15 mins per record = 75 hours

 

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:

 

https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/information-management/freedom-of-information/#fees-and-charges

Please note that these data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently, statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.

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 considered 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 considered 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.

As recommended as good practice by the Information Commissioner’s Office a version of this response may be published on the West Midlands Police website.

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