Dog Section - 358/23

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. How many police dogs were there in the force’s dog unit for each of the last ten calendar years (2012-2022), broken down by job type. (eg. General purpose/ explosive detection) Please list the main breeds used in the totals in question 1. Please list the most commonly used breeds first.

2. How many full time members of staff (trainers, handlers, officers etc) were working in the force’s dog unit for each of the years in the same period.

3. What was the force’s total budget for each of these years and how much was allocated to the dog unit.

4. Does the force have its own dog breeding unit?

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 Operations, People Services and Finance Departments 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.

1.

German Shepherds

Belgian Malinois

Dutch Herders

Spaniels

Spaniel X

Labradors

 

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 – 54 x General Purpose Dogs, 4 x Explosives, 12 x Drugs/Weapon/Cash.

2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 – 34 x General Purpose Dogs, 6 x Explosives, 12 x Drugs/Weapon/Cash, 4 x FES/VR/DVR

2019, 2020, – 28 x General Purpose Dogs, 7 x Explosives, 5 x FES/VR/DVR, 8 x Drugs/Weapon/Cash

2021 - 28 x General Purpose Dogs, 7 x Explosives, 5 x FES/VR/DVR, 8 x Drugs/Weapon/Cash

2022 - 28 x General Purpose Dogs, 7 x Explosives, 5 x FES/VR/DVR, 5 x Drugs/Weapon/Cash

(VR – Victim Recovery, DVR – Drowned Victim Recovery, FES – Forensic Evidence Search dog.)

 

2. Data below expressed as a full time equivalent (FTE) and as at 1^st January for each year.

YEAR	FOI 358/23 Dogs	Officers	Staff
2012	Dog Handler	49.88
	Dog Trainer	6
	Kennel Attendant		3.5
2013	Dog Handler	48.88
	Dog Trainer	6
	Kennel Attendant		3.51
2014	Dog Handler	50
	Dog Trainer	5
	Kennel Attendant		3.99
2015	Dog Handler	46
	Dog Trainer	2
	Kennel Attendant		3.99
2016	Dog Handler	42
	Dog Trainer	4
	Kennel Attendant		3.99
2017	Dog Handler	32
	Dog Trainer	5
2018	Dog Handler	28.97
	Dog Trainer	1
2019	Dog Handler	27.97
	Dog Trainer	1
2020	Dog Handler	26
	Dog Trainer	2
2021	Dog Handler	24
	Dog Trainer	2
2022	Dog Handler	24
	Dog Trainer	5

 

3. No information held. The Force does not devolve budgets down to departmental level so there is no separate dog unit budget.

Additionally I can advise the Force sets budgets by Financial years, not calendar years. It is only also required to maintain Financial records up to 7 financial years. The Budgets that are still available are from 2013/14 and are already published on the OPCC website at the link below.

Link to PCC Northumbria Archived Website

 

4.No

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.