Lost/Stolen Laptops

1) How many laptops have been reported lost or stolen in the past 5 years? (broken down year by year if possible)

2) How many lost or stolen laptops have been recovered by your authority in the past 5 years? (broken down year by year if possible)

3) How many lost or stolen laptops have been returned to their owner in the past 5 years? (broken down year by year if possible)

4) How many laptops have been stolen in the past 5 years? (broken down year by year if possible)

a. House
b. Public transport
c. Offices
d. Assault
e. Cars/other vehicles

In accordance with section 1(1) (a) of the Act our response is provided below;

From our preliminary assessment, we estimate that compliance with your request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000. This is currently £450. The basis for this calculation is in respect of your questions 2 & 3. The records relating to found, seized or otherwise recovered property are primarily paper based, known locally as 'Found property books' The records are held in all police stations through the force area and are managed by property officers in seven main police stations. It would require a manual search of over 10,000 entries per year to locate the information you seek taking one staff member about four weeks to achieve. This would exceed the appropriate limit and your request is refused.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Cheshire Constabulary, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you with a notice which a) states that fact, b) specifies the exemption in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

The appropriate limit is defined in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which is covered by statutory Instrument Number 3244 of 2004. Furthermore, Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows a public authority to refuse to respond to a request for information where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the above mentioned regulations.

We could probably complete your questions 1 & 4 if you would care to refine your request.