Dog Unit (484A/24)
Request
I have several questions outlined below, which require data from the years 2013 – 2022.
Question 1:
How many military working dogs were there in the force’s dog unit in the following years – 2013-2022. Please Specify the type of job these dogs did (detection, search & rescue, general patrolling officers, military etc)?
Question 2:
Please list the main breeds used in the totals in question 1. Please specify the amounts of each breed if possible/ or in order of most common first?
Question 3:
How many members of staff (handlers, trainers, officers etc) were working in the force’s dog unit during the years specified in question 1. If an answer is not possible, could you identify how many members of staff are required within the K9’s unit per year?
Question 4:
What was the forces total budget allocated to the dog unit in the years specified? What is the training & running cost of the dog unit?
Question 5:
What is the training process of a working dog like (length in months/ years etc)? How often do they get training once they’re working officers in the force? How many years do they have in action, before they retire?
Question 6:
How many of the K9 unit got injured (or killed) during working hours? Did any require being put down (if so, amounts if possible)? Were there any incidents (unit acting irrationally – leading to unit being put down, or out of action) recorded in the years specified? Do any of the dog unit show signs of PTSD or other disorders due to their working life? If so, can they seek help for this after they are no longer in action at the force?
Please add any additional information you deem necessary or insightful to my area of investigation.
CLARIFICATION
I am requiring information on police dogs within the west Midlands Police. If you have any data on military dogs that would also be appreciated. But for this instance, just details on police dogs and the numbers within West midlands. Then the further questions outlined, about the respective police dogs.
Response
We can confirm that relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the majority of the information is attached to this email, I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please see attached.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 31(1)(a)(b) – (Law enforcement)
This exemption and explanatory notes are shown here:
In line with the above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached (484A_PIT).
In relation to question 4, there will be costs held on other budgets in relation to the dog section but as these are part of other central budgets they are not separately identifiable. These may include items relating to IT, Estates and Shared Services costs. In relation to training, from 2019-20 we introduced the Dog Training Centre as a separate service area so we have shown the budgets specifically allocated to this area in the years where this is possible. For records prior to those provided would need to manually review other budgets in order to locate and retrieve this information, this search would exceed the FOI time limit.