Thefts from museums or art galleries 81/2024
FOI Reference: 81/2024
Request:
I am interested in data on the number of thefts from public museums and art galleries and would be grateful if you could provide the below info under Freedom of Information. If there is not a specific police code, please could you use a free text search instead.
- Number of thefts from public museums in 2022 and 2023
- Please provide list of item(s) stolen and value if know
- Number of thefts from public art galleries in 2022 and 2023
- Please provide list of item(s) stolen and value if know
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 235 hours) to comply with 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 relation to the whole request is not held in an easily retrievable format. After the implementation of a new software system on the 13th May 2023, we are unable to apply modus operandi location filters or free text search capabilities on the crime dashboard.
Therefore, in order to ascertain if there is any information relevant to your request, every crime record created during the timeframe specified after 12/05/2023 would require interrogation to see if there are any relevant details.
It has been established that there are a total of 2,826 crimes recorded that would require individual interrogation and it has been estimated that it would take an average of 5 minutes to research each individual record. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
2,826 crimes x 5 minutes per crime record = 235 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.
Although excess cost removed the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill, I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved or available before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. 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.
Goodwill Response:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
|
Year |
Public Museums Thefts |
Item and Value if Known |
Public Art Gallery Thefts |
Item and Value if Known |
|
2022 |
0 |
N/A |
0 |
N/A |
|
2023 (Up to 12/05/2023) |
1 |
2x Flag poles, value unknown |
1 |
Bunting, value unknown |
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 13/02/2024)