Metal thefts 1008/2023

FOI Reference: 1008/2023

Request:

I am interested in data which I understand you hold on metal thefts in relation to solar panel farms and wind turbines. Specifically, I would be grateful if you would provide the following:

1) Number of thefts (I believe these are principally metal thefts involving cables) related to commercial solar farms/installations in the UK between Jan 2020 and Sept 2023. Please provide the data broken down by each year. If possible, please also state cause of loss against each crime e.g. cable theft. If you can’t differentiate between commercial and household solar panels, please include both.

2) Number of thefts related to wind turbines (as above, i believe these are metal thefts) in the UK between Jan 2020 and Sept 2023. Please provide the data broken down by each year. If possible, please also state cause of loss against each crime e.g. cable theft

Please use a free text search if specific categories are not available.

Response:

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed-Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:

(a) states that fact,

(b) specifies the exemption in question and

(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However, we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.

Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit

Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”

The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect 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 exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum 1195 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244

The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in relation to your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. This is due to the fact that each theft record would need to be reviewed to identify whether it was located at a solar farm/wind turbine as our systems are not keyword searchable. Similarly, every metal theft would have to be manually checked to see if it took place at a solar farm or wind turbine site.

It has been established that there are a total of 13957 theft records that would require individual interrogation and it has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to research each individual record. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:

January 2020 – September 2023 = 13957 records x 5 minutes = 1163 hours

It has been established that there is a total of metal theft records that would require individual interrogation and it has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to research each individual record. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:

January 2020-September 2023= 386 records x 5minutes = 32.16 hours

Total time estimate to complete whole request = 1195.16 hours

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the WHOLE of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours.

Should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.                                              

It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.

Furthermore, it should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 17/01/2024)