Stolen Jewellery 70/23
FOI Reference: 70/2023
Request:
I’d like to request information on Jewellery that has been reported as stolen;
1) The amount of cases of reported stolen jewellery, across all theft offence types.
2) If known, the total value of all jewellery that has been stolen.
If I could please receive these for each of the calendar years 2020, 2021, 2022 that would be fantastic.
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 of 32.67 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of question 2 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format as it is not a mandatory field and there are a number of crimes relating to Jewellery being stolen in which the item value field has been listed as zero. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to your request for the time frame stipulated would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and further reviewing all crimes referred to above which have an item value listed as zero to ascertain if a value has been outlined elsewhere within that crime record. It has been established that there are a total of 196 records that cover the period of your request. It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single crime record in respect of your clarified request (as outlined above). The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
2020 = 48 crime records@ a minimum of 10 minutes per record = 8.00 hours
2021 = 73 crime records@ a minimum of 10 minutes per record = 12.17 hours
2022 = 75 crime records@ a minimum of 10 minutes per record = 12.50 hours
Time estimate to complete task = 32.67 hours
Please note: A response to question 1 of your request has been outlined at the end of the document and provided as a gesture of good will and outside of the FOI Act.
In accordance therefore 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 the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.
Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided information, relative to question 1 of your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.
|
Year |
No. of crimes that relate to jewellery being stolen |
|
2020 |
86 |
|
2021 |
121 |
|
2022 |
131 |
|
Grand Total |
338 |
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 13/02/23)