Dangerous Dogs Act (1377A/23)
Request
- Could you please provide the number of dogs seized by your force under the Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA), broken down by breed, for each calendar year from 2018, including the figures for 2023 so far.
- Could you also provide the number of dogs destroyed by police under the Act each year from 2018, again broken down by breed.
Response
Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide all of this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).
However, in order to assist in providing you with some information relevant to your request, I can advise that we have recently responded to a request on the subject of dogs seized and destroyed and our response can be found here: https://foi.west-midlands.police.uk/dog-attacks-683a-23/
Additionally, as a gesture of goodwill, I am also able to provide you with the attached information (1377A_23_attachment.pdf). This relates to the first six months of 2023 and is the closest information that we have been able to retrieve regarding dog breeds and the DDA. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
REASON FOR DECISION
Information regarding the breed of dogs seized and destroyed is not easily searchable and would require a manual examination of every report. However, even to allow a minimum of two minutes per report (although some would require much longer) to try and identify this information would far exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12).
This means that the cost of compliance with the whole 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 would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, S.I. 3244.
Further information on section 12 of FOI is available here: