FOI 21101-25 Festive Burglaries and Parcel Theft

Request to Northamptonshire Police

The purpose of this request is to gather data on (1) doorstep parcel thefts and (2) burglaries occurring during the festive period. Specifically, I am seeking anonymised data on the following:

• Burglaries during the festive period

Question 1. The total number of recorded burglaries that occurred on the following dates: 24 December, 25 December, 26 December, 31 December and 1 January for each year 2020-2025 (inclusive).

For burglaries during the festive period, if held, indicate whether a suspect was charged for each offence, or if the case remained unsolved and no suspect was identified. If charge outcome data is not readily available, please still provide the number of burglaries by date.

• Parcel thefts

Question 2. The total number of recorded parcel thefts between 1 January 2020 and 29 October 2025, broken down by month and year.

If doorstep parcel thefts are not recorded as a specific crime category, please provide the nearest available equivalent (for example, theft from a dwelling, theft from doorstep, or similar).

If no such category exists, please identify relevant incidents by conducting a keyword search of crime reports or incident logs using terms such as parcel, package, delivery, or doorstep, and provide the number of records identified.

Response

Question 1

Northamptonshire Police has conducted reasonable searches against its crime recording system and found the data below in respect of burglaries over the festive periods specified.

We have established the below in respect of charges relating to burglaries over the specified period.

Question 2

Unfortunately, Northamptonshire Police are unable to provide you with the information requested because it is not held in an easily retrievable format. Compliance with your request would require our analysts to manually review a minimum of 1833 occurrences across the specified period to establish if the parcel thefts occurred on a doorstep.

We estimate this would take approximately 2 minutes per record, exceeding the appropriate cost limit of £450 which engages an exemption under s12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

Accordingly, please accept this Refusal Notice under s17(1) of the Act. We always strive to provide the highest level of service that we can with the finite resources at our disposal. However, due to the breadth of information you are requesting, we are unable to offer any advice or assistance as to how we can help you redefine your request to bring it within the cost parameters.