Quickly exit this site by pressing the Escape key Leave this site
We use some essential cookies to make our website work. We’d like to set additional cookies so we can remember your preferences and understand how you use our site.
You can manage your preferences and cookie settings at any time by clicking on “Customise Cookies” below. For more information on how we use cookies, please see our Cookies notice.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Sorry, there was a technical problem. Please try again.
This site is a beta, which means it's a work in progress and we'll be adding more to it over the next few weeks. Your feedback helps us make things better, so please let us know what you think.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 530-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 23rd May 2023 as follows:
Q1. Please can you tell me how many instances were the police called as a result of a dog attack from 1st January 2022 to 1st May 2023 (inclusive)
Q2. Please also tell me in how many of those cases the dog in question was destroyed, either on-scene or after the fact.
Please split the data up by month and year.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that some of the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. In regard to Q2, there is no field or marker within the crime system to record or easily identify when a dog has been destroyed following an attack. In order to provide a response to the request, it would be necessary to manually review each and every crime recorded under Home Office classification code 08/21 – Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control injuring any person or assistance dog. The business area has advised that, between the period 1st January 2022 and 1st May 2023, there were 337 such offences recorded. At a conservative estimate of 5 minutes per record to review, this would equate to in excess of 28 hours of work for this part of the request, and therefore the work involved in locating and retrieving the requested information exceeds the cost threshold (£450), which equates to 18 hours work at a standard rate of £25 per hour, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request and, if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit, then section 12 of the Act applies to the whole request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be manually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way in which this part of your request could be revised to allow the requested information to be retrieved within the fees limit.
As a gesture of goodwill, a response to Q1 has been set out below. Please note that this data was located before it was realised that not all of the information could be retrieved within the fees limit and should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.
Q1 response: Searches were conducted for all offences classified under Home Office Code (HOCR) ‘8/21 - Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in any place in England or Wales (whether or not a public place) injuring any person or assistance dog’, recorded between 1st January 2022 and 1st May 2023. Please note that due to low numbers in some months of 2023, providing a monthly breakdown is likely to lead to the identification of an individual. Such a disclosure would breach individuals’ rights under the Data Protection Act 2018, in particular Article 5(1) of the GDPR which states that personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject. Therefore, information has been provided by quarter instead (based on date crime recorded),
2022 |
266 |
January |
19 |
February |
13 |
March |
17 |
April |
28 |
May |
30 |
June |
25 |
July |
17 |
August |
32 |
September |
19 |
October |
24 |
November |
23 |
December |
19 |
2023 |
71 |
January to March |
49 |
April to May (up to 1st May) |
22 |
Grand Total |
337 |
*08/21 – Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control injuring any person or assistance dog
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB