Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
1. Please provide details of the number of offences (listed below) of animal cruelty - i.e. animals being abused or killed - with a break-down of each year and month for the past five calendar years (1 January to 31 December) and the type of animal(s) involved as the victim of the crime. Information should relate to the following crimes:
|
Act |
Home Office Offence Code |
|
Abandonment of Animals Act 1960 |
108/14 |
|
Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) (England) Regulations 2006 |
108/16 |
|
Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) (England) Regulations 2006 |
S 99/96 |
|
Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 |
108/16 |
|
Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 |
S 99/96 |
|
Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1998 |
108/16 |
|
Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1998 |
S 99/99 |
|
Animal and Animal Products Regulations 1997 |
S 91/69 |
|
Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963 |
108/18 |
|
Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2011 |
91/83 |
|
Animal by-products (enforcement) (no2) (Wales) Regs 2011 |
S 91/83 |
|
Animal By-Products (Identification) Regulations 1995 |
091/55 |
|
Animal By-Products (Wales) Regulations 2006 |
S 91/55 |
|
Animal By-Products Regulations 2005 |
S 91/55 |
|
Animal Health Act 1981 |
108/12 |
|
Animal Health Act 1981 |
110/01 |
|
Animal Health Act 1981 |
195/99 |
|
Animal Health Act 1981 |
S 99/99 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/29 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/30 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/31 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/32 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/33 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/34 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/35 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/36 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/37 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/38 |
|
Animal Welfare Act 2006 |
108/39 |
|
Animals (Cruel Poisons) Act 1962 |
108/17 |
|
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 |
S 108/01 |
|
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 |
S 99/99 |
|
Cinematography Films (Animals) Act 1937 |
195/99 |
|
Destructive Imported Animals Act 1932 |
195/99 |
|
Genetically Modified Animal Feed (England) Regulations 2004 |
101/10 |
|
Genetically Modified Animal Feed (England) Regulations 2004 |
101/11 |
|
Genetically Modified Animal Feed (England) Regulations 2004 |
101/12 |
|
Genetically Modified Animal Feed (England) Regulations 2004 |
S 89/09 |
|
Genetically Modified Animal Feed (England) Regulations 2004 |
S 89/10 |
|
Performing Animals (Regulations) Act 1925 |
108/04 |
|
Pet Animals Act 1951 |
108/09 |
|
Products of Animal Origins (Third Country Imports) (England) Regulations 2003 |
S 108/16 |
|
Products of Animal Origins (Third Country Imports) (England) Regulations 2003 |
S 98/14 |
|
Products of Animal Origins (Third Country Imports) (England) Regulations 2006 |
S 98/14 |
|
Products of Animal Origins (Third Country Imports) (England) Regulations 2006 |
108/16 |
|
Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1954 |
108/11 |
|
Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 2000 |
108/26 |
|
Protection of Animals Act 1911 |
108/02 |
|
Protection of Animals Act 1934 |
108/06 |
|
Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 |
S 99/19 |
|
Transit of Animals Order |
110/01 |
|
Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 |
108/05 |
|
Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 |
108/07 |
|
Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 |
108/29 |
2. In addition, if it is possible without breaching any limits in the act, for the first two crimes in every year (10 incidents in total) please provide a short summary text of what happened in the incident. Some forces call this ‘mo text’.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is not held by Northumbria Police.
The vast majority of the Home Office codes provided by you are non-notifiable summary offences, and thus would not be recorded on our systems. The same is true of other animal cruelty offences. The exceptions to this are 195/99 and 099/99. Both of these codes relate to a large number of separate offences.
As a response to the information you have requested up to and including August 2018 is accessible by other means I have not provided you with a copy of the information and will rely on Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore consider this a refusal for that part of your request.
I have provided an explanation to this exemption below.
Section 21 (1) - Information accessible by other means
Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant is exempt information.
This information has been asked for previously, released and is published on the Northumbria Police Disclosure Log. FOI 770/18 refers and the link to the Log is provided below.
Consequently, only cases recorded from September 2018 have been investigated for this FOI. None of these cases relate to animal cruelty either.
The RSPCA or local authorities are more likely to deal with this kind of offence, and as such you may wish to redirect your queries there to see it they can assist.
