Art theft in London in 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.022919

I note you seek access to the following information:

I was interested in the policing of art theft in London....

This request would be seeking identical information found in previously published answers, except for the time frame…

The reference numbers in order of asking are 01/FOI/21/022106 and 01/FOI/19/012685....

For the entire year of 2021, how many offenses relating to art theft were recorded across the MPS?

I would like to do a like-for-like comparison with the previous answer, so the codes for the property categories would be HB, PF and HH....

Secondly, how many police officers currently work in the Art and Antiques Unit?

The previous answer from 2019 had the staffing level at 1x Detective Chief Inspector (DCI), 1x Detective Inspector (DI), 1x Detective Sergeant (DS), 2x Detective Constables (DCs). A further DC had been reported as being selected and was awaiting posting.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - For the entire year of 2021, how many offenses relating to art theft were recorded across the MPS?

Please find attached to this email, a spreadsheets in which the requested information has been provided.

IMPORTANT
• Please ensure that the note section within the spreadsheet is read in conjunction with the data in this report to ensure that it is interpreted correctly.

Q2 - How many police officers currently work in the Art and Antiques Unit?

• 3 x Detective Constables (DC)
• 1 x Detective Sergeant (DS)

The previous response showed 1 x Detective Inspector (DI) and 1 x Detective Chief Inspector (DCI).

The team of 3 x DC and 1 x DS still reports in to a DI and DCI, however the remit of the DI and DCI have expanded so they aren’t shown specifically to Arts & Antiques and are therefore not counted on this baseline.