FOI-1057-2025 / Oct 2025 / Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 1057-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 22nd October 2025 as follows:
Please provide data held by your force for the period 1 January 2020 to the present date, covering the following:
Dog Seizures
Q1. The total number of dogs seized under:
- a) Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
- b) Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Please provide totals for each calendar year.
Incident Reports
Q2. The total number of incidents recorded or reported under Section 3 of the Act (i.e. dogs dangerously out of control) for the same period.
Public Reports
Q3. The total number of reports or complaints received from members of the public alleging a dog to be of a prohibited type under Section 1 for the same period.
Current Custody Data (2025)
Q4. The total number of dogs currently held in police kennels under
(a) Section 1 and under
(b) Section 3.
Q5. What is the maximum capacity of kennel space for your force and does you force operate the IES - if so how many S1 dogs are currently under this scheme
Breed or Type Breakdown
Q6. Where recorded, a breakdown of the breeds or types of dogs seized under Section 3 since 1 January 2020.
Kennelling Costs
Q7. The average daily cost to kennel and care for a seized dog.
Q8. Whether these costs differ depending on whether a dog is seized under
Section 1 or Section 3.
Dog Legislation Officers (DLOs)
Q9. Whether the force employs or assigns a dedicated Dog Legislation Officer (DLO) or equivalent role responsible for cases under either
(a) Section 1 and/or
(b) Section 3.
Or will a DLO cover both?
Q10. If applicable, the number of DLOs currently employed or assigned within your force.
Kennelling Arrangements
Q11. Please confirm whether seized dogs are:
- a) Held in police-operated facilities, or
- b) Housed with contracted third-party kennels, rescues, or welfare organisations.
Q12. Please advise the total number of spaces for a and b.
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 order to provide the requested information in relation to seizures at Q1 and Q6, it would be necessary to manually review the wider records and documentation for each and every seizure for the specified period on an individual basis. We are aware from previous scoping exercises undertaken for similar requests, that for the period 1st November 2023 to 30th June 2025, a total of 231 dogs were seized by Warwickshire Police. At approximately 20 to 30 minutes per seizure to review, this would equate to a minimum of 77 hours of work taking the lower estimate, for this period alone. Therefore, the work involved in locating and retrieving the requested information at Q1 and Q6 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.
Furthermore, regarding Q3, there is no identifier within the Command-and-Control System to identify incident reports made by the public alleging prohibited breed types. It would therefore be necessary to individually review each and every incident log where the call type has been recorded as ‘animal’ to determine a response to this part of the request. This would equate to thousands of logs and would also greatly exceed the amount to which we are legally required to respond.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for these parts of the request, and, if one or more 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 on refining your request; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be individually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to reduce these parts of the request into ones which could be managed within the fees limit.
I can advise that were Q1, Q3, and Q6 removed, it may be possible to conduct searches and locate and retrieve information within fees for Q4, Q5, Q9, Q10, Q11 and Q12. However, any information located would still be subject to the usual disclosure considerations.
Regarding Q2, I can advise that it may be possible to provide the total number of crimes recorded under Home Office offence classification ‘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’.
Regarding Q7 and Q8, we are unable to provide average cost or a breakdown of costs relating to kennelling, however, I can advise that it may be possible to provide the overall total spend for kennelling of dangerous dogs for the period 2024/25, should you wish to revise and resubmit the 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