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:
Please provide monthly and annual totals from 2018 up until the most current date available at the point of production for the following:
1. The number of times the offences of an out-of-control dog causing injury has been recorded
2. The total number of dogs seized each year
3. The number, seized each year of: a) suspected banned breeds, b) suspected American Bully or ‘XL bully’ breed
4. The number of dogs seized, split by weight
5. The number of dogs destroyed each year.
6. The number of dogs destroyed each year, with a breakdown, if available of suspected banned breeds and suspected American bully breeds.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development and Operations Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held in part by Northumbria Police.
I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
1.
|
Year |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Total |
|
2018 |
7 |
9 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
14 |
6 |
12 |
2 |
5 |
93 |
|
2019 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
- |
- |
4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
28 |
|
2020 |
- |
3 |
- |
2 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
27 |
|
2021 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
- |
1 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
- |
32 |
|
2022 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
25 |
|
2023 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
17 |
|
Total |
21 |
20 |
23 |
20 |
19 |
21 |
16 |
20 |
21 |
19 |
11 |
11 |
222 |
2. We have provided information of the number of dogs seized for offences contrary to sections 1 and 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. This would be in line with question 1. To provide data of all seized dogs would include dogs that are seized for non crime reasons which would distort the data:
2018 - 43
2019 - 38
2020 - 59
2021 - 52
2022 - 74
2023 up to May 1st - 32
3. The following is data for dogs confirmed as banned breeds by year. Not every dog seized is examined for breed type and therefore the data cannot be more specific, All of the dogs below were confirmed as Pit Bull Terrier Type after examination by a Northumbria Police Dog Legislation Officer. In addition not all banned breeds are seized, Northumbria Police uses the exemption scheme where appropriate:
2018-10
2019-11
2020-10
2021-7
2022-11
2023 up to May 1st - 4
4. Information not held. This information is not routinely obtained or recorded.
5. The following data includes dogs suspected of being involved in relevant incidents which are then disclaimed by owner prior to court proceedings:
2018 - 29
2019 - 26
2020 - 34
2021 - 29
2022 - 39
2023 up to May 1st - 19
6. We do not examine all dogs for breed type, only those suspected of being a banned breed contrary to Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 are assessed for breed type and therefore data is not considered accurate.
The below should be noted when viewing the figures:
- For Q.1, the data has been taken from systems where the recorded offence was: 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.
- Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
- The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
