Dog thefts 70/2022

FOI Reference: 70/2022

Request:

I would like to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act into the number of stolen dogs reported in your constabulary in 2021.

I have detailed the request below:

Q1. Please state how many dogs were reported as stolen in your area in 2021:

	2021
Reports of dogs being stolen

Q2. Over the same timeframe, please state how many of these cases were resolved (i.e. the pet was returned to its owner):

	2021
Cases of dogs being returned

Q3. If possible, please state the three most commonly stolen breeds of dog and the number of each taken, in 2021:

Stolen dogs	Breed #1		Breed #2		Breed #3
	Name	Count	Name	Count	Name	Count
2021

Response 1:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested as detailed below;

Dogs reported in 2021

Year	Number of dogs stolen
2021	82

*These are the number of dogs, not the number of reports/crimes.  More than one dog may have been reported stolen for each report/crime.

Response 2:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested as detailed below.

Dogs stolen and returned

Year	Number of dogs returned
2021	13

Response 3:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested as detailed below, however we are exempting part of that information as we believe that the following exemptions are relevant as detailed below and explained at the end of this response:

Section 30(1)(a) Investigations and Proceedings conducted by Public Authorities

Most common breed stolen in 2021

Breed	Number of dogs
Border Collies	7
cocker spaniel	5
Chihuahua x terrier	4
Labrador	4
Jack russell	4
Rottweiler	4

Section 30 Exemption Applied x 22

Explanation of the applied exemptions:

Section 30(1)(a) Investigations and Proceedings conducted by Public Authorities:

• Information held by a public authority is exempt information if it has at any time been held by the authority for the purposes of –

 

• Any investigation which the public authority has a duty to conduct with a view to it being ascertained (i) whether a person should be charged with an offence, or (ii) whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it.

Section 30(1)(a) is a class-based qualified exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information. However there is a requirement to carry out a Public Interest Test in order to establish whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption may be outweighed by a wider public benefit in disclosure.

Public Interest Test

Considerations favouring disclosure:

Disclosure of the information would improve the public’s knowledge and awareness regarding the frequency of such crimes.

Considerations favouring non-disclosure:

This exemption covers information held at any time for the purpose of an investigation, whether the case is ongoing, closed or abandoned. To release details of an ongoing investigation, as in this case, could undermine and prejudice those investigations. This would impact on the forces’ future law enforcement capabilities by hindering the prevention or detection of crime.

Balancing Test

After considering the advantages and disadvantages in disclosure, it falls upon Dyfed-Powys Police to conduct a balance test on the issues. The strongest argument for disclosure, which is public awareness, needs to be weighed against the strongest arguments for non-disclosure, which in this case is that the release would undermine and prejudice an ongoing investigation, which would impact on the forces’ future law enforcement capabilities by hindering the prevention or detection of crime.

Therefore, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

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 and disclosed on the 16^th February 2022.