FOI 0732-2023/24- Shoplifting offences

Request:

Q1. How many offences of shoplifting/theft from shops has your force recorded in each month of 2022 and 2023 to date?

Q2. Please break these down by category of item stolen in each month ie groceries 250 / electrical 100 / jewellery 25

Q3. If you record the value of items stolen, please list the top five highest value thefts

Q4. If possible please list the top five retailers where the offences took place in each year ie Tesco 1000 / Aldi 750

Q5. How old was the a) youngest and b) oldest suspect your force arrested or otherwise dealt with in regard to shoplifting

Q6. For each of 2022 and 2023 to date, please provide a breakdown of outcomes for shoplifting ie 300 charged / 25 cautioned / 10 PND

Response:

Extent of Searches to Locate Information

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision

I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to review over 7000 records, to be able to ascertain the top 5 retailers where shoplifting offences took place, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, we may be able to provide some information in relation to part 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of your request if you resubmit and omit part 4.  If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.