XL Bully and banned dogs 471/2024
FOI Reference: 471/2024
Request:
In response to the below requests please can you provide individual yearly data for each of the following years:
- April 2019 to April 2020
- April 2020 to April 2021
- April 2021 to April 2022
- April 2022 to April 2023
- April 2023 to April 2024
- The number of reports received by the force of XL Bully Type dogs and reports of Banned Breeds.
- Times your officers attended reports of XL bully type dogs and Banned Breeds.
- The number of times officers removed a dog from a premises under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and if the breed was recorded what breed officers recorded the dog as.
- The number of interim exemption orders granted by the police for dogs suspected of being XL bully type.
- How many XL bully type dogs and banned breeds have been destroyed by the force?
- Number of arrests made under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
- Number of convictions under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
Additionally can you please provide monthly data from April 2023 to April 2024 for the following:
- The number of dogs seized by the force under Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006
- Number of arrests made under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
- Number of convictions under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
Response:
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed-Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However, we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. approximately 17,014 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244
The Freedom of Information Department has been advised that the information in relation to question 1 & 2 of the request is not held in an easily retrievable format.
The Department responsible for providing the data have stated that in order to ascertain if there is any information relevant to your request, every incident report under the category P-Animal, P-Safety (safety/welfare) and C-Assault would need to be interrogated.
April 2019 to April 2020
P-Animal = 1,035 records x 10 minutes per record = 173hrs
P-Safety = 17,097 records x 10 minutes per record = 2850hrs
C-Assault = 4,054 records x 10 minutes per record = 676hrs
April 2020 to April 2021
P-Animal = 963 records x 10 minutes per record = 161hrs
P-Safety = 16,776 records x 10 minutes per record = 2796hrs
C-Assault = 3,010 records x 10 minutes per record = 502hrs
April 2021 to April 2022
P-Animal = 992 records x 10 minutes per record = 165hrs
P-Safety = 19,329 records x 10 minutes per record = 3222hrs
C-Assault = 4,224 records x 10 minutes per record = 704hrs
April 2022 to April 2023
P-Animal = 933 records x 10 minutes per record = 156hrs
P-Safety = 17,015 records x 10 minutes per record = 2836hrs
C-Assault = 4,365 records x 10 minutes per record = 728hrs
April 2023 to April 2024
P-Animal = 1,231 records x 10 minutes per record = 205hrs
P-Safety = 6,619 records x 10 minutes per record = 1103hrs
C-Assault = 4,445 records x 10 minutes per record = 741hrs
Total time to complete task (102,088 incident records x 10 minutes per record = 17,014 hours
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the WHOLE of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours.
Should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
Although excess cost removed the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill, I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved or available before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.
Response 3:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
2019-2020 – 2 dogs
2020-2021 – 7 dogs
2021-2022 – 8 dogs
2022 – 2023- 17 dogs
2023-2024- 41 dogs
Response 4:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
0 Dogs
Response 5:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
2019-2020 – 0 Dogs
2020-2021 – 3 Dogs
2021-2022 – 4 Dogs
2022-2023 – 11 Dogs
2023-2024 – 28 Dogs
Response 6:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
2019-2020 – 4 Arrests
2020-2021 – 2 Arrests
2021-2022 – 2 Arrests
2022 – 2023- 4 Arrests
2023-2024- 18 Arrests
Response 7:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
2 convictions.
Response 8:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
April 23 – 2 dogs
May 23 -2 dogs
June 23 -4 dogs
July 23 – 1 dogs
August 23 – 4 dogs
Sept 23 –0 dogs
October 23 – 0 dogs
November 23 – 4 dogs
December 23 – 0 dogs
January 24 – 7 dogs
February 24 – 6 dogs
March 24 – 11 - dogs
Response 9:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
April 23 – 0 Arrests
May 23 -3 Arrests
June 23 – 4 Arrests
July 23 – 0 Arrests
August 23 – 6 Arrests
Sept 23 – 1 Arrest
October 23 – 1 Arrest
Nov 23 – 2 Arrest
Dec 23 – 1 Arrest
January 24 – N/A
February 24 –N/A
March 24 – N/A
Please note: The data is all available data from 01/01/2019 to 31/12.2023. Results for Jan to March 24 are not yet available.
Response 10:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
2 convictions.
It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.
Furthermore, it should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 06/09/2024)