FOI XL Bully Crimes (108-2024/25)

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
 
Q1. The number of reports received by the force of XL Bully Type dogs and reports of Banned Breeds.
Q2. Times your officers attended reports of XL bully type dogs and Banned Breeds.
Q3. 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.
Q4. The number of interim exemption orders granted by the police for dogs suspected of being XL bully type.
Q5. How many XL bully type dogs and banned breeds have been destroyed by the force?
Q6. Number of arrests made under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
Q7. 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:
 
Q8. The number of dogs seized by the force under Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006
Q9. Number of arrests made under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
Q10. Number of convictions under the Dangerous Dogs Act and if available the breed of dog.
 
NB: If this request for yearly data is going to be over the FOI cost limit then please provide yearly data for the following three years: April 2019-April 2020 / April 2022-April 2023 / April 2023-April 2024.

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.

In relation to Q2, In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review all PSW Animal Problems logs created during this time period, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.  Furthermore, we are unable to provide conviction data due to the way that it is recorded.

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 for the remaining questions if you resubmit your request.  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.