Shoplifting
Date of request: 14 November 2024
Reference: 1382-24
Request
- Reports of shoplifting offences have you had to your police force in the following years: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
- People charged with shoplifting offences by your police force in the following years: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
Could you also provide a break down in your answer – as specifically as your data permits – as to what kind of shoplifting offence was committed each year, by percentage.
And just to add one more request as part of this:
- Reports of shoplifting offences have you had to your police force in the following years involving theft by eating food in a store before buying and throwing away the packet: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
Response
Please note that we are only able to provide data from 2015 when our current crime recording system was brought in.
Please find the below data for question 1, theft from shops and stalls for data from 2015 until 2024.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Sum: | |
| Theft from shops and stalls | 11275 | 12591 | 12016 | 10662 | 10436 | 7393 | 6808 | 9892 | 14651 | 16833 | 112557 |
Please find below data for question 2, those who have been charged with Theft from Shop and stalls from 2015 until 2024. We have also provided the full table of outcomes to put into context other ‘positive’ outcomes.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Sum: | ||
| Filed – Incident Report OR CRI | 4 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||
| New – Under Investigation | 28 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 33 | 65 | 523 | 659 | |||
| OC01 – Charge/Summons | 3083 | 3087 | 2294 | 2282 | 2029 | 1338 | 982 | 1281 | 1751 | 1862 | 19989 | |
| OC02 – Caution – Youths | 156 | 83 | 66 | 38 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 24 | 4 | 411 | |
| OC03 – Caution – Adults | 334 | 283 | 197 | 137 | 113 | 55 | 35 | 69 | 52 | 30 | 1305 | |
| OC04 – TIC | 504 | 583 | 403 | 407 | 308 | 193 | 144 | 116 | 211 | 210 | 3079 | |
| OC05 – Offender Dead | 4 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 41 | |
| OC06 – PND | 173 | 155 | 58 | 35 | 1 | 422 | ||||||
| OC08 – Community Resolution | 1038 | 714 | 460 | 419 | 332 | 158 | 220 | 342 | 371 | 294 | 4348 | |
| OC09 – Not in Public Interest (CPS) | 12 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 31 | ||||
| OC10 – Not in Public Interest (Pol) | 260 | 267 | 351 | 382 | 315 | 221 | 173 | 155 | 211 | 271 | 2606 | |
| OC11 – Offender Under Age | 8 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 60 | |||
| OC12 – Offender too ill | 8 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 48 | ||
| OC14 – No Sus / Victim Decline | 163 | 210 | 217 | 234 | 327 | 269 | 259 | 288 | 440 | 457 | 2864 | |
| OC15 – Sus/Insuff.Evidence | 438 | 724 | 621 | 621 | 591 | 480 | 485 | 715 | 1471 | 2555 | 8701 | |
| OC16 – Sus/Victim Declines | 283 | 561 | 697 | 816 | 809 | 531 | 587 | 852 | 842 | 737 | 6715 | |
| OC17 – Time Limit Expired | 5 | 21 | 37 | 16 | 34 | 9 | 9 | 28 | 26 | 15 | 200 | |
| OC18 – No Sus / No Line Enq / Filed | 4761 | 5699 | 6281 | 5144 | 5401 | 3921 | 3761 | 5738 | 8859 | 9362 | 58927 | |
| OC20 – Transferred Oth Agency | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 32 | |
| OC21 – Investig. not in Public Int. (Police) | 16 | 170 | 310 | 92 | 132 | 196 | 130 | 205 | 260 | 393 | 1904 | |
| OC22 – Diversionary, educational, intervention | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 45 | 21 | 105 | ||||
| 1 | 7 | 12 | 86 | 106 | ||||||||
| Sum: | 11276 | 12591 | 12016 | 10662 | 10436 | 7393 | 6808 | 9892 | 14651 | 16834 | 112559 | |
In relation to question 3, Avon and Somerset Police holds information on the subject you have requested. However, we will not be able to answer your request without exceeding the appropriate limit. This is because the information is not centrally recorded and would involve an extensive search of our files to find and collate.
We would need to manually review each record of theft to confirm the circumstances of the offences, with over 100,000 offences recorded from 2015 until 2024, it is estimated it would take far in excess of 18 hours to comply.
Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for police authorities is set at £450 or 18 staff hours. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days in determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it.
This letter represents a partial Refusal Notice under the Act.
We have provided you with the above data to help answer question 1 and 2 of your request but we are unable to assist you in relation to question 3.