FOI 865-2023 / Sept 2023 / Dangerous dogs
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 865-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 21st September 2023 as follows:
Q1. Please could you provide me with the number of reports of dog attacks (i.e. owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control within your County (whether or not in a public place) injuring any person or assistance dog). from January 2010 to present date.
Q2. Please can you provide the number of reported incidents FROM January 2010 to present date.
Q3. Can you confirm the number deaths related to dog attacks. January 2010 to present date.
Q4. Please can you provide a breakdown of the figure for each time period by recorded outcomes (e.g. number of Charge/Summons, Community Resolution etc). for each incident
Q5. Can you positively confirm the breed of dogs involved in the dog attacks;
Q6. Can you positively confirm the breed of dogs involved in dog attacks that lead to a persons death.
Q7. Can you confirm, if any dog attacks etc since January 2010 to present are said to be XL bully's who assessed these dogs were XL Bullies and what criteria they used to do so.
Happy to have this broken down for each year.
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. There is no field or marker within the crime system to record or flag the breed type in relation to a dangerous dog offence. Therefore, in order to provide a response to Q5 and Q7 of 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 carried out a search and has advised that there is a total of 1,232 such offences recorded between 1st January 2018 and 31st August 2023, as set out below:
|
Year |
Number of offences |
|
2018 |
193 |
|
2019 |
178 |
|
2020 |
190 |
|
2021 |
210 |
|
2022 |
266 |
|
2023 (up to end Aug) |
195 |
|
Grand total |
1232 |
Please be advised that due to system changes, crime information is only available from October 2017 onwards, and in full calendar years from 1st January 2018.
At a conservative estimate of 5 minutes per record to review, this would equate to in excess of 102 hours of work for this part of the request, and therefore locating and retrieving the requested information exceeds the cost threshold of £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) 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, as it requires the records to be manually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to revise this part of your request into one which could be provided within the fees limit.
I can however advise that it may be possible to provide information for Q3, Q4, and Q6, should you wish to revise and resubmit your request.
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