FOI 251-2025 / Feb 2025 / Dogs seized

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 251-2025

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 25^th February 2025 as follows:

Q1. The number of dogs that have been seized under section three of the Dangerous Dogs Act by your police force in the following calendar years:

1. 2019
2. 2020
3. 2021
4. 2022
5. 2023
6. 2024

Q2. Please can you provide a breakdown of the total number of dogs seized in Q1a-f by the breed or type of dog.

Please find the Warwickshire Police response to your request set out below.

Response: Please be advised that 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 Recording System to record or flag the breed type of a dangerous dog or whether it has been seized. Between 2019 and 2022, the force utilised a bespoke system to record dog seizures and destructions, however, due to changes in 2022, this system, and the information recorded on it, is no longer accessible. Therefore, 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’ for the specified period. The business area has carried out a search and has advised that there is a total of 1,560 such offences recorded between 1st January 2019 and 31^st December 2024. At a conservative estimate of 5 minutes per record to review, this would equate to in excess of 130 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 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 the section 12(1) Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.

In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be individually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to reduce your request into one which could be managed within the fees limit.

Outside of the Act, and as a gesture of goodwill, information relating to seizures of dangerous dogs for the years 2019 to 2022, which has previously been issued for FOI requests using information that was accessible from the bespoke system at that time, is set out below.

*A breakdown by breed is not available for the above

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

[email protected]