Theft of motor vehicles (FOI ref: 739/26)
Request
1. A yearly breakdown of the total number of ‘theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle’ offences reported in your policing area during the periods:
1st April 2019 - March 31st 2020
1st April 2020 - March 31st 2021
1st April 2021 - March 31st 2022
1st April 2022 - March 31st 2023
1st April 2023 - March 31st 2024
1st April 2024 - March 31st 2025
1st April 2025 - March 31st 2026
2. Please provide all recorded outcomes for the results of Q1 above using the same yearly periods.
Response
Please note that due to system changes/issues, we are currently only able to provide data beginning 01 January 2022.
1. A yearly breakdown of the total number of ‘theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle’ offences reported in your policing area during the periods:
1st April 2019 - March 31st 2020
1st April 2020 - March 31st 2021
1st April 2021 - March 31st 2022
1st April 2022 - March 31st 2023
1st April 2023 - March 31st 2024
1st April 2024 - March 31st 2025
1st April 2025 - March 31st 2026
Table 1. Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle:
|
Financial year |
Total offences |
|
2021/22^ |
3,228 |
|
2022/23 |
14,844 |
|
2023/24 |
14,280 |
|
2024/25 |
12,694 |
|
2025/26* |
11,918 |
|
Total |
56,964 |
^ 2021/22 data is partial and covers 01 January 2022 to 31 March 2022 only.
* 2025/26 data is partial and covers 01 April 2025 to 23 March 2026 only.
Table 2. Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle (Attempts):
|
Financial year |
Total offences |
|
2021/22^ |
92 |
|
2022/23 |
119 |
|
2023/24 |
256 |
|
2024/25 |
357 |
|
2025/26* |
742 |
|
Total |
1,566 |
^ 2021/22 data is partial and covers 01 January 2022 to 31 March 2022 only.
* 2025/26 data is partial and covers 01 April 2025 to 23 March 2026 only.
2. Please provide all recorded outcomes for the results of Q1 above using the same yearly periods.
Table 3. Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle:
|
Outcome |
2021/22^ |
2022/23 |
2023/24 |
2024/25 |
2025/26* |
|
Blank/Ongoing |
- |
2 |
3 |
16 |
620 |
|
Caution – Adult (Inc Conditional Caution) |
1 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
|
Caution - Youth (Inc Conditional Caution) |
- |
- |
3 |
- |
- |
|
Charge or Summons |
36 |
294 |
356 |
475 |
381 |
|
Community Resolution |
1 |
11 |
33 |
45 |
54 |
|
Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
- |
|
Evidential Difficulties - Victim Based - Named suspect not identified |
261 |
1,143 |
1,794 |
911 |
556 |
|
Formal action against the offender is not in the public interest (Police) |
- |
5 |
2 |
- |
- |
|
Further action will be taken by another body |
- |
7 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
|
Investigation Complete: No suspect identified |
2,648 |
12,215 |
10,813 |
9,996 |
9,226 |
|
Named Suspect identified: evidential difficulties prevent further action(no victim support) |
150 |
564 |
585 |
640 |
518 |
|
Named Suspect identified: evidential difficulties prevent further action(victim support) |
128 |
582 |
658 |
587 |
534 |
|
Prosecution prevented – Named suspect identified but is too ill (physical or mental health) to prosecute |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
|
Prosecution time limit expired: Suspect identified but prosecution time limit has expired |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
Taken into consideration (TIC) |
1 |
15 |
19 |
6 |
15 |
|
The Offender has Died (all offences) |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
Total |
3,228 |
14,844 |
14,280 |
12,694 |
11,918 |
^ 2021/22 data is partial and covers 01 January 2022 to 31 March 2022 only.
* 2025/26 data is partial and covers 01 April 2025 to 23 March 2026 only.
Table 4. Theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle (Attempts):
|
Outcome |
2021/22^ |
2022/23 |
2023/24 |
2024/25 |
2025/26* |
|
Blank/Ongoing |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
39 |
|
Caution – Adult (Inc Conditional Caution) |
- |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Caution - Youth (Inc Conditional Caution) |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
|
Charge or Summons |
- |
7 |
9 |
44 |
42 |
|
Community Resolution |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
|
Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
- |
|
Evidential Difficulties - Victim Based - Named suspect not identified |
8 |
12 |
42 |
26 |
40 |
|
Investigation Complete: No suspect identified |
77 |
90 |
195 |
267 |
585 |
|
Named Suspect identified: evidential difficulties prevent further action(no victim support) |
4 |
4 |
3 |
7 |
17 |
|
Named Suspect identified: evidential difficulties prevent further action(victim support) |
3 |
4 |
5 |
10 |
17 |
|
Taken into consideration (TIC) |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
- |
|
Total |
92 |
119 |
256 |
357 |
742 |
^ 2021/22 data is partial and covers 01 January 2022 to 31 March 2022 only.
* 2025/26 data is partial and covers 01 April 2025 to 23 March 2026 only.
"We do not underestimate the impact car crime has on people’s lives and we are working hard to bring offenders to justice. We know the huge inconvenience of vehicle crime on livelihoods, and personal lives. For more information and advice on keeping your home and property secure, visit: https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/crime-prevention"
Please note that this data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently statistics on crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting the data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.