FOI Garden Thefts (0677-2024/25)

Request
Q1. Number of Garden Theft Incidents

Please provide the total number of reported garden theft incidents (including thefts from garden sheds, patios, or any garden areas) within your jurisdiction for each of the following years: 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Q2. Details of Items Stolen

If recorded, please provide information on the types of items reported stolen during garden theft incidents. For example, the count of stolen tools, bicycles, furniture, plants, ornaments, etc.

Q3. Time of Year (Seasonality) of Incidents
If the data is accessible, please provide details of the months or seasons in which garden theft incidents were most frequently reported.

Q4. Value of Items Stolen (if available)

If there is any record of the estimated value of the stolen items, please provide this information in aggregated form for each year.

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.  

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 536 records where the item type is unspecified, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Please also note that whilst some information on the value of items stolen is held, this is not mandatorily recorded, therefore the record would need to be manually read to see if any further information was held. 

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). If you wish to resubmit your request, omitting Questions 2 and 4 then I may be able to reconsider your request.  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.