Crimes - abstract electricity - 457/18

Date Responded 24 May 2018

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

1. Where data is available for each of the following periods, please state how many cases were investigated within your authority related to the "Theft Act 1968: Section 13 (for abstraction of electricity)":

2016

2017

2018

2. If data is available, please also state how many related to abstraction of electricity for suspected use in cultivation or manufacture of illegal drugs for the timeframes outlined above.

3. If data is available, please state the number of cases that related to abstraction of electricity for suspected use in cultivation or manufacture of illegal drugs that were investigated in rented properties (i.e. not owner-occupied premises) for the timeframes outlined above.

In Response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.

2016 –105

2017 – 126

2017 – 37

2016 – 28

2017 – 40

2017 – 12

3. To note – the below are instances where it has been recorded that the property was rented. There may be instances where the tenure has not been recorded.

2016 – 18

2017 – 30

2017 – 9

Disclaimer

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another. Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative purposes.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.