Vehicle thefts 707/2024

FOI Reference: 707/2024

Request:

Kindly advise what fields are held in a 'readily retrievable' format to enable me to obtain meaningful data

In the meantime, provide the following which, by reference to your responses, is available, can be supplied and satisfies the cost exemption without restricting the time period (your only suggestion)

1. the records for theft of a motor vehicle from 01/01/2023 to 30/04/2024 (inclusive) month on month i.e. the number of vehicle thefts notified each month, in Excel format, detailing:

a) Month/year of theft

 

Response:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.

The Department responsible for providing the information have stated that there was an error in the calculation of the data which advised that there was a total of 660 cases of theft of motor vehicles from 01/01/2023 to 30/04/2024.

The 660 cases advised in my response FOI was for all motor vehicle offences, which included vehicle thefts. The Department have now advised that the correct figure for motor vehicle thefts is 294.

A breakdown of the motor vehicle thefts, inclusive, month on month is as follows

DATE	VOLUME OF THEFT OF MOTOR VEHICLES
Jan-23	16
Feb-23	15
Mar-23	15
Apr-23	21
May-23	9
Jun-23	17
Jul-23	26
Aug-23	17
Sep-23	13
Oct-23	21
Nov-23	13
Dec-23	20
Jan-24	28
Feb-24	27
Mar-24	17
Apr-24	19

 

The fields that are held in a 'readily retrievable' format are as follows:

Niche Reference

Offence Date

Reported Date

Offence > Reported Time

Initial Classification Date

Latest Classification Date

Occurrence Address

LPA

Inspector Area

Section Code

Beat Name

Beat Code

Latitude

Longitude

Home Office Category

HO Code Group

Home Office Sub Category

Offence

Niche Local Code

Summary

Licensed Premises

Weapon Used

Weapon Used Description

CCHI Score

Victims

Victims Age at Offence

Victim Self Defined Ethnicity

Victim Self Defined Ethnicity Code

Victim Gender

Nominals

Nominal Age at Offence

Nominal Self Defined Ethnicity

Nominal Self Defined Ethnicity Code

Nominal Gender

Victim & Accused Relationship

Hate Crime Markers

Local Qualifiers

NICL Qualifiers

Outcome Date

Outcome

Concluded Date

Occurrence Hyperlink

Please note: The Department that provided the amended data has stated that points b – f (copied below for ease of reference from your previous request 522.2024) are not mandatory fields, therefore the officer has no obligation to note any of that information. Therefore, despite the lower figure of recorded vehicle thefts, this data would still  require a manual trawl of every motor vehicle theft record to identify if the officer has completed any of the fields. As there were 294 motor vehicle thefts, and the Department has advised that, having conducted a dip sample, it would take approximately 10 minutes to review each case, this would invoke a Time Estimate response as it would take approximately 49 hours to complete.

b) make of the vehicle

c) model of the vehicle

d) categorisation of the vehicle i.e. car, van, motorcycle etc.

e) whether the vehicles concerned have been recovered

f) the month of recovery

                                                           

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 29/07/2024)