156/24 Bicycle Thefts
OFFICIAL
FOI Reference: 156/2024
Request:
- What percentage of all reported crimes were bicycle thefts in each full year of 2023, 2022, 2021. (If it is easier, we are happy for you to provide the total number of crimes and the total number of bicycle thefts for each year, and we can work out the percentage ourselves).
- What percentage of all bicycle thefts were electric bikes (for the years of 2023, 2022, 2021 – broken down by each year individually).
- A breakdown of bicycle thefts in each postcode area covered by Dyfed-Powys Police for the year of 2023.
Response:
Section 12(1) applies as information not readily available.
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 75 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 relation to question 2 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format.
To complete your request we would have to manually search records to locate specific key words that may form part of the MO, as in this case searching for the word ‘electric bicycle’. We currently do not have the ability to automate a search for specific wording that may have been recorded.
It has been established that there are a total of 451 records that would need to be individually reviewed to search for the relevant key words, for the 3 years listed, and it has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research each individual record. The relevant time estimate is detailed below:
2021: 144 crimes x 10 minutes per record = 24 hours
2022: 179 crimes x 10 minutes per record = 30 hours
2023: 128 crimes x 10 minutes per record = 21 hours
Total time estimate to complete whole request: 451 x 10 = 75 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 us.
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.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below. This is provided outside of the FOI Act.
Question 1:
|
Year |
Total crimes |
Bicycle theft crimes |
% of total crimes recorded |
|
2021 |
40,962 |
144 |
0.35 |
|
2022 |
45,300 |
179 |
0.39 |
|
2023 |
38,799 |
128 |
0.32 |
Question 3:
|
Division |
Number of bicycle theft crimes |
|
Carmarthenshire |
48 |
|
Ceredigion |
20 |
|
Pembrokeshire |
16 |
|
Powys |
37 |
|
Unknown |
7 |
It should be noted that owing to the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such matters the information provided may or may not be accurate.
Police Forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recoding criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the 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 20/03/24)