Data on offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029997

I note you seek access to the following information:

New request
Another police service has asked me to clarify my request, so to assist your officers in answering this request I would like to clarify there relevant timeline: please provide the requested data (i.e. the number of dogs out of control seized under S3 of the DDA 1991) for every calendar year since 2000 for which data is available.

Additionally, could you please provide the number of complaints, arrests, and persons charged for an offence relating to S3 Dangerous Dogs Out Of Control of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 for each calendar year since 2000, to provide data on such offences which did not result in a seizure.

All data should be broken down by breed where available, with a further category for the number of offences which are unclassified.

Old request
For all years you have data, could you please provide the number of dangerous dogs out of control seized under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs act (coded S3 Dang Dog) in total and classified by dog breed?

Additionally, for each dog breed where applicable, if you maintain this information, could you please note what proportion of these dogs had been on the Index of Exempt Dogs?

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

These searches successfully located some of the information relevant to your request. I have attached two excel spreadsheets with the answers to some of your questions. Please note there are six separate tabs within the – ATT 1 spreadsheet, titled cover sheet, notes and report 1,2,3 and 4.

The notes page should be read in conjunction with the data to ensure the report is interpreted correctly. I will disclose the reason why we cannot answer question 2 under the section titled Information Disclosed.

Q1 - For all years you have data, could you please provide the number of dangerous dogs out of control seized under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs act (coded S3 Dang Dog) in total and classified by dog breed?

Please see the attached dataset titled Dog Seizures – ATT, which answers this question. Please note that the MPS have only maintained a digital record since 2018 relating to Dog Seizures.

Q2 - Additionally, for each dog breed where applicable, if you maintain this information, could you please note what proportion of these dogs had been on the Index of Exempt Dogs?

The MPS does not hold this data as the index of exempted dogs is held by DEFRA. Please see the link below. At the bottom of the page there is guidance on how to make a FOIA request and previous releases from Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)DEFRA.

NEW REQUEST

Q3 - Additionally, could you please provide the number of complaints, arrests, and persons charged for an offence relating to S3 Dangerous Dogs Out Of Control of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 for each calendar year since 2000, to provide data on such offences which did not result in a seizure. All data should be broken down by breed where available, with a further category for the number of offences which are unclassified.

Please see the attached dataset titled FOIA – ATT which answers this question. Please note it has not been possible to provide a breakdown of the breeds of dog involved as the circumstances of arrest do not routinely specify the breed of dog involved.