West Midlands Police Headquarters at Lloyd House, Birmingham. Credit: Wikipedia Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

Tens of thousands of pounds worth of vehicles and equipment have been stolen from West Midlands Police in the last eight years.

Thefts over the last eight years include a range of cars, vans and bikes as well as police equipment.

Details of items stolen from West Midlands Police were revealed by freedom of information requests.

The figures cover 2012 to October this year for vehicle thefts and from 2012 to September this year for thefts from vehicles and buildings.

Thieves stole 26 vehicles from West Midlands Police in this time and took 65 smaller items from inside vehicles and police buildings.

The most notable items listed were high-performance sports cars, vans and off-road bikes but many other smaller objects were also reported as stolen.

Among the cars taken were an Audi A5 saloon for which the latest standard model costs £38,575 and a grey Audi S3 which starts from £38,475.

Criminals also got their hands on two grey and black BMWs, a silver Volkswagen Golf and multiple Vauxhall models.

File:West Midlands Police cars near Birmingham New Street Station (34089884271).jpg
West Midlands Police cars near Birmingham New Street Station. Credit: Wikipedia Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

A pair of police vans, a white Vauxhall Vivaro and a grey Fiat Bravo, were stolen as well.

Roads were the most dangerous place for police vehicles with 17 stolen from streets in the west midlands.

The worst year for the force regarding vehicle thefts was in 2015 with six lost to thieves.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said:West Midlands Police has a fleet of 1552 vehicles which are in continual use 24 hours a day, travelling over 21 million miles a year.

“Many of the vehicles are used in response duties, reacting to critical incidents across the force area and many are unmarked cars.

“Our fleet are not immune to crime and we too suffer from vehicle theft and break-ins, but as with all responsible drivers we have insurance to cover this.”

There were also 56 thefts of items from police vehicles including number plates, clothes, equipment and fuel cards.

However only nine items were stolen from Police buildings in this time with thefts in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.

One of the three thefts from a police building reported in 2015 was committed by an employee.

Items stolen from Police premises included three pedal cycles and what is described as photographic equipment from a motor vehicle.

The worst year for thefts of items from buildings and vehicles was 2012 where 14 items were stolen.

West Midlands Police apologised last month after a notebook containing information on young people at risk from or associated with gangs was stolen from an unmarked car on May 25.