Dangerous Dogs Act

Dear Ms. Dunckley ,

Reference No: SB29/10

Thank you for your application for information concerning 8 requests about the Dangerous dogs Acts. This will be
dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working
days as defined by the Act, subject to the information not being exempt nor containing a reference to a third party.
In the event that we are not able to achieve this deadline you will be informed at the earliest opportunity and
given a revised time-scale.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information you have requested. If this
is the case you will be informed and the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment from
you.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transfer to another public authority in order to answer your
query in the fullest possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

Yours sincerely,

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst

Information Bureau
Merseyside Police
PO Box 59, Liverpool. L69 1JD
Telephone: 0151 777 7019 Fax: 0151 777 7099
Email : [Merseyside Police request email]

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

Dear Ms Dunckley,

Reference No: SB29/10

I write in connection with your request for information dated and received
on 01/03/10 concerning:

I am contacting you concerning the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, as amended,
legislation.

1) How many dogs have been seized under Section One of the Dangerous Dogs
Act in 2009?
2) How many prosecutions under Section One and Section Three of the
Dangerous Dogs Act did the Merseyside police proceed with in 2008 and 2009?
3)How many dogs have been seized under Section One of the Dangerous Dogs
Act (prohibited dogs) so far this year (2010)? Of those seized, how many
have been signed over for destruction by their owners?
4) How many applications have been made to the magistrates court under
section 4b of the Dangerous Dogs Act in 2008 and 2009? Of those 4b
applications, how many resulted in destruction orders and how many resulted
in registration onto the Index of Exempted Dogs?
5) How many dogs are currently held under Section One and how may dogs are
held under Section Three of the Dangerous Dogs Act?
6) What number of dogs seized under Section One of the Dangerous Dogs Act
during 2009, have been destroyed or have died whilst in police custody, due
to illness, injury or disease?
7)What number of dogs seized under Section Three of the Dangerous Dogs Act
during 2009, have been destroyed or have
died whilst in police custody, due to illness, injury or disease?
8) What is the cost to the police for the seizure, kennelling,veterinary
treatment and legal costs for dogs seized under section one of the
Dangerous Dogs Act in 2007, 2008 and 2009?

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within
Merseyside Police to locate information relevant to your request. I can
confirm that the majority of the information you have requested is held by
Merseyside Police.

Extent of searches to locate information
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted
at the Operational Support Unit - Dog Section & the Information Bureau.

Result of searches
In relation to your request, the cost of providing you with the information
is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the
cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate
level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004, (which equates to in excess of 18 hours and £450 to
retrieve the data).
The data is exempt on the basis that if the retrieval of data for one part
of the request exceeds the time and cost limits set by the Act then the
entire request will be exempt on this same basis.
From 2007 onwards a central database was set up to record dangerous dog
seizures and disposals across the force. There are in excess of 1000
entries on this database and to retrieve the information requested, will
require each entry to be manually reviewed, which will therefore exceed the
time and cost limits set by the Act.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as
a Refusal Notice. If you would like any advice in respect of refining your
request so that the data requested could be retrieved under the time and
cost limits, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Complaint Rights
Should you be unhappy with my response, please see the attached document
below which details your right of complaint:
(See attached file: Complaints info.doc)

Yours sincerely,

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst
Information Bureau

Merseyside Police
PO Box 59
Liverpool
L69 1JD
Tel: 0151 777 7019
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

Dear Ms Dunckley,

Thank you for your e-mail, I am currently making enquiries to provide you
with constructive advice as to how best to refine your request and I hope
to be able to respond to you in the very near future.

Kind Regards

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst
Information Bureau

Merseyside Police
PO Box 59
Liverpool
L69 1JD
Tel: 0151 777 7019
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

Amanda Dunckley
<request-29907-36
d3a9e4@whatdothey To
know.com> Freedom.Of.Information@merseyside.p
olice.uk
24/03/2010 14:32 cc

Subject
Re: Freedom of Information Response
(ref: SB29/10) Dangerous Dogs -
[Not Protectively Marked]

Dear Merseyside Police,

Dear Susie Blank,

Could you please advise as to how my request for information could
be refined so that information can be obtained under the Freedom of
Information Act?

I have managed to receive this same data from several other police
forces.

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Dunckley

show quoted sections

Dear Ms Dunckley,

In reply to your e-mail below and in addition to my subsequent e-mail to
you dated 24/03/10, I can now provide you with constructive advice as to
how best redefine your request to bring it below the cost and time limits
set by the Act. We would be able to provide a response to questions 1, 3, 6
& 7 within invoking the cost limit.

Obtaining the data for questions 2, 4, 5 & 8 would exceed the cost limit
due to the way in which the data is held. Each entry on the database used
to record Dog seizures also contains (in most cases) a very large amount of
freetext data. For each dog seized, all of the freetext data that
accompanies the entry on the database would have to be viewed to determine
whether prosecutions had subsequently been made and under which section of
the Dangerous Dogs Act. The freetext would also record whether applications
had been made to court and the outcome. So each entry would have to be
manually reviewed to determine the answers.

At present under the Act, if one part of a request exceeds the cost/time
limit to retrieve the information then the remainder of the whole request
is also exempted on the same basis. Therefore, by redefining your request
to ensure all of the data requested can be provided under the cost/time
limit, this will ensure that you will receive the data in this particular
case.

I hope this provides you with the clarification you were seeking, if I can
assist you any further or if you wish to submit a refined request, please
don't hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Susie Blank
Disclosure Analyst
Information Bureau
Merseyside Police
PO Box 59
Liverpool
L69 1JD
Tel: 0151 777 7019
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

Amanda Dunckley
<request-29907-36
d3a9e4@whatdothey To
know.com> Freedom.Of.Information@merseyside.p
olice.uk
24/03/2010 14:32 cc

Subject
Re: Freedom of Information Response
(ref: SB29/10) Dangerous Dogs -
[Not Protectively Marked]

Dear Merseyside Police,

Dear Susie Blank,

Could you please advise as to how my request for information could
be refined so that information can be obtained under the Freedom of
Information Act?

I have managed to receive this same data from several other police
forces.

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Dunckley

show quoted sections