FOI 0737-2023/24- Dogs seized suspected to be banned breeds

Request:

As a freedom of information request, please provide data regarding dogs seized under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act. Specifically, for the period from 2018 till present:

Q1. For each year, the number of dogs seized suspected to be a banned breed

Q2. For each year, if available, the number of dogs seized suspected to be an XL American Bully, American Bully or XL Bully Cross

Q3. For each year, the number of stray dogs picked up by police, plus the reason they were picked up (such as suspected to be a banned breed, or acting dangerously)

Q4. Additionally, for the period of Jan 2022 till present, please provide a monthly breakdown of the number of dogs seized, the number of suspected banned breeds seized, and the number of suspected XL American Bullies, American Bullies or XL Bully Crosses seized.

Response:

Extent of Searches to Locate Information

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision

I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

North Yorkshire Police do not readily record the number of stray dogs recovered, as this is managed by the local authority. In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review all records in relation to every dog seized for being prohibited and/or behaving dangerously over the past 6 years to be able to establish whether the dog was a stray or not, which would mean reading through hundreds of records, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, we may be able to provide some information in relation to part 1, 2 and 4 of your request if you resubmit and omit part 3. If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.