2022/24988 - Theft of a vehicle and theft from a vehicle

REQUEST

I'd like to know the number of recorded thefts of a vehicle, and thefts from a vehicle (as separate figures please) in: 

• the 12 months to March 7, 2022
• the 12 months to March 7, 2021
• the 12 months to March 7, 2020

If possible, within the cost and time limits, could you include the type of vehicle stolen, and what items were stolen from vehicles, please.

RESPONSE

The information below shows the number of each offence recorded in the noted time frames, and the types of vehicles which had been stolen, where this had been identified.

To gain information regarding which items had been stolen, a manual trawl would have to be completed. From 08/03/2019 – 07/03/2020 there were 2023 offences recorded, titled ‘Theft from a motor vehicle’.  It would take 5 minutes to look through each record to identify which items has been stolen, it would take 168+ hours to complete a manual trawl.  Therefore, as this part of the question would take more than 18 hours to complete, it is exempt on time.

Section 12 – Excess Cost

The exemption applicable to the information you have requested for this question can be found at Section 12(1) of the Act and this refusal notice is issued under Section 17.

Section 12(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.” 

In the case of a police force, the appropriate limit is set at £450, which is calculated at £25 per hour (i.e., 18 hours). Gwent Police would have to conduct a manual search to find and extract the information for this question. This would take more than 18 hours of staff time therefore we are unable to answer this question and the exemption is engaged.