Instances of parcel theft 2021-25

Request

REQUEST 1:
Q. How many instances of parcel theft (i.e. parcels stolen from someone's doorstep, porch or lobby) were reported between the following dates: 01/01/2021 - 13/08/2025? I would like this information to be broken down by calendar year, and with the results for 2025 so far separate

REQUEST 2:
Q. Please could you share a breakdown of these instances by month for each of the date ranges provided (i.e Jan 2021, Feb 2021 etc through to Aug 2025 so far)

REQUEST 3:
Q. What is the total reported value of stolen parcels for the date range provided, broken down by calendar year (and for 2025, the results so far). If not all reported thefts have had the value of the good provided, please could you share the information for the number of parcel thefts that do have a monetary value attached and the total cost of those?

REQUEST 4:
Q. Please could you share a breakdown of these costs by month for the date range provided? (If this element of the request is going to be too time consuming, please get back in touch with me as I would not want the whole FOI to be rejected over one question)

REQUEST 5:
What is the most common time of day for parcel thefts to be reported? I would like this information to be broken down by calendar year (based on the date ranges provided)
A. 06:00 - 09:00
B 09:01 - 17:00
C 17:01 - 22:00
D 22:01 - 06:00

REQUEST 6:
Q. Could you let me know the number of thefts, broken down by month, that have led to an arrest?
Q. Following on from this, please could you also provide the number of parcel thefts, by month, that have resulted in a charge?
Q. And finally, the number of parcel thefts, by month, that have led to a successful conviction? Please could you also provide the sentence (if this is going to be too time consuming, please just provide the number of convictions)

Response

Please note: I have provided the data and breakdowns in a way that is possible without triggering a cost exemption, further breakdown would trigger a s12 for cost.

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:

The data sets provided for this FOI are all based on the following search criteria –

SYP & crime only filter

and       Incident Created Date is between 01/01/2021 and 13/08/2025

and       Property Class 3 is equal to Cardboard Box, Post - Letters / Parcel

and       Property Status is equal to Stolen, Stolen / Recovered

or           HO Sub Sub Group Name is equal to / is in THEFT OF MAIL

Please note –

• It is not possible to provide an accurate figure for the monetary value as both the ‘Property Value’ and ‘Quantity’ fields are not mandated requirements, and therefore not recorded for all offences. In addition, if both ‘Property Value’ and ‘Quantity’ are recorded, then we are not certain whether the value recorded relates to multiple items or individual items i.e. Property – bike, Value 300, Quantity 2 (we cannot determine if the value is 300 per bike or 150 per bike).
• Extracted on 19/08/2025. Data from CONNECT only. This is a live recording system and may be subject to change.
• Note that it can be assumed that often victims will not know the exact time the offence was committed and this is likely to be an estimate/range.

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

We do not have a dedicated arrest reason for parcel theft. We conducted the below search:

• Arrests recorded on Connect which were conducted 01/01/2021 - 13/08/2025.
• Arrests reasons of the following:
• Burglary - Attempted;
• Burglary - Dwelling;
• Burglary - Non Dwelling;
• Burglary - Aggravated;
• Burglary - Distraction;
• Aggravated Burglary In A Dwelling;
• Handling Stolen Goods;
• Robbery;
• Theft - From Employer;
• Theft - From Person;
• Theft - From Shop;
• Theft - From Vehicle;
• Theft - From Machine/Meter;
• Theft - Of Mail;
• Theft - Other;
• Theft - Of Motor Vehicle;
• Making Off Without Payment

Arrests where the circumstances mention the word “parcel”. 

A manual review of records has provided the below data for number of arrests: