Lost or stolen property

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031300

I note you seek access to the following information:
1. What information do you provide to third parties with regards to lost or stolen property?
2. Do you have a contract or any business agreements with companies such as RECIPERO to provide information from point 1?
3. How does a member of the public obtain access to the data sets containing lost or stolen property such as unique references or identifiers through yourselves?

Decision

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

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - What information do you provide to third parties with regards to lost or stolen property?

The MPS do not routinely supply this type of data to third parties.

Any information that is recorded in relation to lost and found (L&F) property is either obtained from the person reporting the item as lost / found or retained by the MPS.
In terms of stolen property, it depends on what is asked and who is requesting it but generally speaking this information is not disclosed. If we receive Freedom of Information Act requests about it, any responses are fully anonymised and do not contain any but the most basic of data i.e. item type, crime category (if known), and for any secure disposals via a third party they get the number of items and unique seal reference to allow for an audit trail. No personal or crime detail would be added.

Any personal information disclosed with a third party will always be in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, the GDPR, and any other information sharing legislation and agreements.

No third party data would be shared without the relevant contracts in place.

Q2 - Do you have a contract or any business agreements with companies such as RECIPERO to provide information from point 1?

The MPS has no such contracts in place.

In relation to stolen property, whilst we have used a third party (such as CMR Recycling) in the past to dispose of some items (mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc.), any unique references linked to secure disposal would be down to the seal number on each bag but with no further details relating to the owner/case etc.

Q3 - How does a member of the public obtain access to the data sets containing lost or stolen property such as unique references or identifiers through yourselves?

A member of the public would not be automatically entitled to access data sets relating to lost and found property, and stolen property.

All our information on L&F property is recorded in paper-based books at individual stations. There is no central recording system for it, and so any such request for this information under the Freedom of Information Act (the only appropriate route of access for a member of the public) would likely be refused under Section 12 – the cost exemption.

In addition, although there are electronic systems in place in relation to the recording of stolen property / criminal exhibits, this too would likely be subject to the cost exemption under the Act, depending on what exactly was requested.

If you do have specific questions regarding information held on our systems, I would suggest you submit a separate FOI request detailing exactly what information you require.

This could then be assessed and considered under the Act.