Copper Theft 2020-2024

Request

I would like the following, please:

• The number of thefts logged by your force which include the terms 'copper' 'electric' 'charger' 'car' in the summary of the offence for the year to date
• Please provide the figure for each of the following years: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
  

As you can tell, I am aiming to collect data on the number of thefts of copper from car charging units, both public and privately owned, to see if there has been a rise.

Response

I approached our Performance Review Unit for assistance with your request. An analyst within this unit has conducted a search of our Crime Management System - Connect which records complaints or allegations of those matters, which the Home Office specify should be recorded as 'crimes'. All our systems are designed and used first and foremost for Policing Purposes and have limited search capability. They provided me with the below in response and the following explanation regarding their search criteria:

Criteria used :–

SYP & crime only filter, and Incident Created Date is between 01/01/2020 and 31/12/2024, and HO Group Name is equal to / is in THEFT and Initial MO is LIKE (pattern match) %copper%, and Initial MO is LIKE (pattern match) %electric%, and Initial MO is LIKE (pattern match) %charger%, and Initial MO is LIKE (pattern match) %car%

Please note :–

• Extracted on 01/09/2025. Data from CONNECT crime only. This is a live recording system and may be subject to change.
• Spelling mistakes and variations of keywords cannot be accounted for and as such will not be captured and therefore not included.
• Keyword searches are unreliable, the reasons why searches using this method are not reliable include (but are not limited to) the following: –

1. a) Spelling errors
2. b) Variations of the keyword
3. c) Non mandatory recording of keywords

• It's worth noting that some fields used are not mandatory and require manual input.