Stolen mobile phones

20 May 2025

Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Ref No: FOI2025/03405

I write in connection with your request for information received on 18th April.  I note you seek access to the following information:

This is a request for information about the number of stolen mobile phones that have been recovered by police. I understand that it is impossible to reunite many with their owners because many devices aren’t registered stolen or the IMEI numbers are unknown by their owner.

1. How many stolen or suspected stolen mobile phones are currently held by the force having been recovered by officers?

2. How many stolen or suspected stolen phones have been recovered by the force in the past five years? If possible it would be helpful if this data is broken down by year.

3. Of these, how many have successfully been returned to their owners?

I understand that questions 2 and 3 will be harder to answer (I imagine the first one could be answered with a simple inventory check) so if they are impossible to provide a clear response to I will accept an answer to just question one.

Any relevant images of recovered devices would also be very helpful.

I am required by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (The Act) to handle all requests in a manner that is blind to the identity of the requestor. Any information released in response to a request is regarded as being published and therefore, in the public domain without caveat.

Following enquiries within Bedfordshire Police Force please see our response below.

1.

2&3 No information held.

The numerical data presented in this response is an un-audited snapshot of un-published data sourced from "live" systems and is subject to the interpretation of the original request by the individual extracting the data.