Stolen agricultural equipment 743/2023
FOI Reference: 743/2023
Request:
Could I please have the following information:
- a) How many reports of stolen agricultural equipment / machinery have been made in your force this year?
Please could I have the figure for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Clarification sought:
What are you classifying as agricultural equipment, is this limited to agricultural vehicles/attachments, or all machinery. E.g. a chainsaw or gate stolen from a farm could be considered agricultural equipment but taken out of that context would not be.
The search is heavily reliant on the property field having been completed, as this is not mandatory the property item may be blank or listed as simply “agriculture”.
Secondly is this restricted to where it has been stolen from a farm/barn/outbuilding/field? Opening up the locations further will undoubtedly result in more records which will then need to be checked to see if they are relevant to the request.
Clarification received:
I would like information on agricultural vehicles / attachments - not things like gates, please.
Regarding location - I am not concerned about whether the item was stolen on a farm or not. I would like information on all thefts, regardless of where they took place.
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.
I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
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. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to 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 52 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that some of the information in respect of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. Therefore, in order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to the request and provide an accurate response would require the individual interrogation of a number of theft crimes in which it is unclear if what has been reported as stolen relates to your clarified request i.e. agricultural vehicles / attachments. It has been established that for the period as request (i.e. 2017 – 2023) there are a total 312 theft crimes that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research a single theft crime for relevance to your request as outlined above, resulting in the following broken down time estimate.
2017 = 56 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 9.33 hours
2018 = 48 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 8.0 hours
2019 = 52 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 8.67 hours
2020 = 33 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 5.50 hours
2021 = 39 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 6.50 hours
2022 = 64 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 10.67 hours
2023 = 20 theft crimes at 10 minutes per crime = 3.30 hours
Total of 52 hours to complete task
Please note: We are unable to identify any data relating to your request for 2015 & 2016. In addition to this we do hold some data relating to period of 2017 – 2023 relative to your request which is retrievable within the 18 hour time limit. However, this data would not be a true and accurate representation of the data you have requested.
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, however with due regard to the time estimate provided above it is unlikely that refining your request will fall under the 18 hours as the same method and format will have to be undertaken. 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 Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 09/04/24)