Dog theft - 473/18

Date Responded 25 May 2018

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:

Of the reported theft cases which involved dogs in 2015, 2016 and 2017:

1. How many led to arrests?

2. What were the sentencing outcomes?

3. How many /which led to custodial sentences, and how long were the sentences?

4. How many cases remain unsolved or open?

In Response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.

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 held by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.

2&3. This information should be sourced from the courts

4. crimes are not recorded as 'unsolved'. There are no open crimes, i.e. all crimes have been given an outcome. The outcomes are provided below.

Caution adult x 2

Charge/Summons x 15

Community Resolution x 2

Evidential Difficulties x 25

Investigation Complete - No suspect identified x 104

Not in Public Interest x 1

Victim declines or is unable to identify suspect x 15

Victim does not support police action x 15

Disclaimer

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an indication of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another. Systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses between forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative purposes.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.