FOI 847/25
EQUEST
- The number of illegal / non-compliant e-bikes that have been seized by your police force in each of the past five calendar years?
Please also include a breakdown by year, please include: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
- The number of reported incidents of phone snatching or muggings in which an illegal or non-compliant e-bike was used as part of the offence, recorded over the past five calendar years.
Please also include a yearly breakdown of such incidents, please include: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
- The number of fines and/or arrests made in connection with the use, possession, or operation of illegal e-bikes over the past five calendar years?
RESPONSE
Your request for information has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply the information you have requested.
In relation to your request, the following exemption applies:
Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit.
Regarding question 2, we conducted a search on our crime and incident recording system (NICHE RMS) for all theft from a person offence within the requested time frame. This search retrieved 4,078 results.
Due to the way the data is recorded, we would require manual interrogation of each offence to see if the item stolen was a mobile phone and if an e-bike was involved. We estimate it would take around three to four minutes to interrogate each occurrence.
Therefore, we estimate it would take 238 hours to retrieve the information you have requested in question 2
It is estimated that the cost of providing you with the information 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.
In the case of the police service, the appropriate limit is £450 which has been calculated to equate to a total of 18 hours of work.
If any part of the request exceeds the fees limit then Section 12 applies to the whole request.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a refusal notice.
Excess cost removes the forces obligation under the Freedom of Information Act, however under Section 16 – Duty to provide advice and assistance, an authority is required to offer an applicant the opportunity to redefine their request within the cost limit. If you were to remove question 2, we may be able to assist with this request.