Dangerous Dogs Act (as amended)

The request was refused by Essex Police.

Dear Essex Police,

I write with reference to The Dangerous Dogs Act, 1991 (amended), under the Freedom of Information Act, and ask for your kind reply, as follows:

1) How many dogs were seized by your force in the in the most recent full year for which you hold records (please provide date range) under S1 of the Act?

2) How many of these dogs seized in the aforementioned period have been exempted?

3) How many of these dogs seized in the aforementioned period have been released as non type (found to have been non-banned breeds)?

4) How many of these dogs seized in the aforementioned period were then destroyed?

5) Of these dogs destroyed, how many were disclaimed by their owners during the aforementioned timeframe?

6) How many dogs were put on the Interim Exemption Scheme before going to court during the aforementioned time frame?

7) What are your kennel costs in relation to dogs seized under the Act for the aforementioned time period?

8) Were there any litters of puppies of seized dogs destroyed whilst the parent dog was kennelled in the aforementioned period?

Yours faithfully,
L. A. Jourdan
Volunteer Administrator
For and on Behalf of Frannie Santos-Mawdsley, Chair, Born Innocent

Data FOI Essex,

Your email has been received and will receive attention.

 

Please note however that this Team is currently experiencing a high volume
of requests and delays in response may occur. Unless your email is
re-directed elsewhere we aim to respond within 20 working days.

 

Please see the Essex Police website for more information about the Force,
and what this team does:  [1]https://www.essex.police.uk/

 

If your email relates to a Road Traffic Collision please re-direct your
email to [2][email address]

 

For non-emergency calls to Essex Police please use the 101 telephone
number. In the case of an emergency, please dial 999.

 

Data Protection & Freedom of Information
Information Management
Continuous Improvement
Essex Police Headquarters
PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA

 

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
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please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.essex.police.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]

Data FOI Essex,

1 Attachment

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference.

Under the Freedom of Information Act we are required to reply within 20
working days.  The Act does not specify a limit to the number of
information requests a public authority may receive or the number of
requests or questions an applicant may submit.  However, there are
exemptions in the Act that can apply and these include where the cost of
complying with the request would extend beyond the reasonable cost limit,
(currently 18 hours or £450), or if the request is otherwise manifestly
unreasonable in its scope or nature. 

 

Requests that ask a great many questions, or a number of detailed requests
submitted at the same time, may make it necessary for Essex Police to
refuse the requests wholly or in part. The exemption at s14 may be engaged
if the burden on the authority is increased through multiple requests on
differing subjects

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has responsibility for
providing oversight and guidance for the legislation and they have
produced advice for applicants on submitting effective requests.  Further
information can be found on the Commissioner’s website at
[1]www.ico.gov.uk specific information relating to submitting a request
can be found at:
[2]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici...

                                                      

While we process your request, please take the time to consider the ICO’s
advice and whether you feel it may be beneficial to amend or refine your
request. Our team is happy to discuss your request with you and will be
able to provide advice as to what kind of information will be available
from Essex Police.

 

Jessica Casey

Information Officer

Data Protection & Freedom of Information

Information Management

Continuous Improvement

Essex Police Headquarters

External Tel: 101 ext 150030

E-Mail:[email address]

Fax: 01245 452256 (int: 150045)

Non Emergency Telephone Number: 101 

 

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D2F960.84E87850

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Kerry Nicholson 42006441,

4 Attachments

Thank you for your enquiry which has been logged under the above
reference.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties
on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at
Sec1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a
request is held. The second duty at Sec1(1)(b) is to disclose information
that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon
s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a)
states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states
(if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

In respect of your enquiry:

I write with reference to The Dangerous Dogs Act, 1991 (amended), under
the Freedom of Information Act, and ask for your kind reply, as follows:

 

1)            How many dogs were seized by your force in the in the most
recent full year for which you hold records (please provide date range)
under S1 of the Act?

 

2)            How many of these dogs seized in the aforementioned period
have been exempted?

 

3)            How many of these dogs seized in the aforementioned period
have been released as non type (found to have been non-banned breeds)?

 

4)            How many of these dogs seized in the aforementioned period
were then destroyed?

 

5)            Of these dogs destroyed, how many were disclaimed by their
owners during the aforementioned timeframe?

 

6)            How many dogs were put on the Interim Exemption Scheme
before going to court during the aforementioned time frame?

 

7)            What are your kennel costs in relation to dogs seized under
the Act for the aforementioned time period?

 

8)            Were there any litters of puppies of seized dogs destroyed
whilst the parent dog was kennelled in the aforementioned period?

Having completed my enquiries I am able to respond as follows:

In respect of Sec 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating
to your request however Essex Police does not hold all the information
requested in a format that allows it to be retrieved within the scope of
FOI.

 

When responding to a request for information under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act, a public authority is not obliged to provide
information if the authority estimates that the cost of the retrieval of
the information requested would be in excess of £450 (equivalent to 18
hours work). The costs criteria relates to a request in its entirety,
which means that if we cannot retrieve all of the information requested
within the costs limit, we are not obliged to retrieve any of the
information requested.

 

 Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act states that a public
authority is not obliged to:

“…comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that
the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate
limit.”

 

If I can explain the difficulty in answering all of your request within
the time limits mentioned above;  To provide this data and the level of
details requested would require a manual review of over 400  records for
the 2017 year , to establish if a dog has been seized, destroyed and the
individual circumstances regarding puppies, disclaimer and previous come
to the attention of the police. This process would exceed the time and
cost limits mentioned above. In addition the above process would also
qualify as the creation of data as sorting or filtering data sources or
running a database query tool will not provide the level of data required.
There is no requirement under the act for this to be carried out to answer
questions within a FOI request.

 

With regard to kennel costs, Essex Police Policy states:

 

"Where a dog is being held under the Dangerous Dogs Act pending
proceedings against the owner, CPS should be advised of the kennel charges
that will accrue and should be requested to expedite the proceedings.
Claims for kennel fees should be pursued against the owner of the dog."

 

If Essex Police does incur any not recoverable costs, these are not
recorded centrally but under a "miscellaneous" heading and to retrieve the
information requested would require a manual search of files in each
Division for the period in question. This would require a review of each
expenditure to see if it related to dogs and then the entry would need to
be cross checked to see if this related to a dangerous dog and/or a banned
breed the location the dog was seized from, name of the dog and the fate
of dog.

 

 

Consequently, and to this extent, Essex Police are exempt from the duty to
provide information you have requested under the provisions of section
12(1) of the FOI Act. Therefore, and in accordance with section 17(1) of
the Act, this communication must act as a refusal notice to provide all of
the information that could be interpreted as being captured by this part
of your request.

 

Having said that, and in an effort to assist - although excess cost
removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act - I
can provide details provided that answers from historic FOI responses
regarding dog seizures which may assist.

 

Please see the attached information in respect of seized dogs provided by
the force Dog Section . Banned breeds will be shown as PBT.

The following information explains some of the terms used:

 

Sus Pit = Dog was suspected of being a Pit Bull Terrier Type Dog
(prohibited Breed Sec 1 DDA 1991)

PTS = Put to Sleep ( Euthanized)

4B Process = A court process where the dog gets returned to the owner with
restrictions, eg entered on the DEFRA index of exempted dogs, neutered,
micro-chipped, insure & walked on a lead & muzzle.

 

The number of seized dogs in 2016 = 90 dogs seized

 

If required we can provide data in respect of offences/outcomes of a dog
being dangerously out of control and injuring any person (not just bites -
although that probably accounts for the majority of injuries). The law
changed recently to cover injuries in any place, whereas previously it
only covered public places or where the dog had entered a private place.
 If you do require further information a new request will need to be
submitted and the request will be dealt with accordingly.

 

I trust that the information I have provided is of assistance. Thank you
for your interest in Essex Police.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kerry Nicholson
Senior Information Officer

Information Management | Continuous Improvement

Essex Police HQ
Internal extension 150044
Direct Dial 01245 452647
Essex Police Non emergency Telephone Number (within Essex) 101 (Outside
Essex) 0300 333 4444
Fax: Internal 150045 External 01245 452256
Website: [1]www.essex.police.uk

Information Management, Continuous Improvement, Essex Police Headquarters,
PO Box 2, Springfield, Chelmsford, CM2 6DA

Please note, if you require further information or wish to resubmit a
request please refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s
website regarding submission of effective requests
[2]https://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/of...

 

Your right to complain

 

If you feel your request has not been properly handled, or you are
otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you have the right
to complain.

 

Complaints should be submitted within 20 working days from the date of
this response and should be addressed to the Senior Information Officer at
the above address or by email to:  [3][Essex Police request email]

 

We will conduct a review to investigate your complaint and endeavour to
reply within 20 working days.

 

Please explain which aspect of the reply you are not satisfied with, and
if your complaint concerns the decision to apply an exemption it would
assist the review if you would outline why you believe the exemption does
not apply.

           

If you are still dissatisfied following our review, you have the right
under section 50 of the Act to complain directly to the Information
Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information
Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints
procedures provided by Essex Police

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [4]https://ico.org.uk/

 

 

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Dear Kerry Nicholson 42006441,

Thank you for your reply.

Perhaps inadvertently you have provided information only for 2015. I requested information for the last full year (it need not be a full calendar year) for which you hold the information. As you have provided only full year 2015, is this because the last day for which you hold this information is 31 December 2015?

I thank you in advance for your clarification.

Yours sincerely,

L. A. Jourdan

Dear Essex Police,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Essex Police's handling of my FOI request 'Dangerous Dogs Act (as amended)'.
I have not received a reply to my request which was sent to you on the 26th of February. I am still waiting for my request as per my most recent sumission:

Dear Kerry Nicholson 42006441,

Thank you for your reply.

Perhaps inadvertently you have provided information only for 2015. I requested information for the last full year (it need not be a full calendar year) for which you hold the information. As you have provided only full year 2015, is this because the last day for which you hold this information is 31 December 2015?

I thank you in advance for your clarification.

Yours sincerely,

L. A. Jourdan
On behalf of Frannie Santos-Mawdsley, Chair of Born Innocent

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

L. A. Jourdan

Data FOI Essex,

1 Attachment

Please accept our apologies in respect of the delay to the internal review
request.

 

The case has been re-examined but as explained in our previous response,
enquiries were made with the Dog unit however the unit no longer provides
the level of data and details requested in a format that allows for data
to be easily extracted. Detailed figures have been given which we trust
explains why examination and extraction over the number of records would
exceed the time and cost limits of the FOIA and potentially qualify as the
creation of data as the information cannot be created by means filtering
or BI query data tool.

 

Outside of the obligations of the act, Essex Police have provided easily
obtainable historic data (2015) and given advice regarding offences that
Essex Police can provide more easily. It is noted that you requested
further information under FOI 10796 to which clarification has been
provided.

 

If you do wish to resubmit a refined request please consider the timescale
and number of records that may be examined.

 

Formally therefore Essex Police upholds the previous decision to apply
S12(1) costs exemption to your request.

 

Kinds regards

 

Information Rights Team

Information Management Department

Strategic Change Directorate

E-Mail:[email address]

[1]cid:image001.png@01D3E908.EC4D1080

If you require further information or wish to submit a request, please
refer to the information found on the Commissioner’s website regarding
submission of effective requests
[2]https://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/of...

 

Your right to complain

 

If you feel your request has not been properly handled, or you are
otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request you have the right
to complain.

 

Complaints should be submitted within 20 working days from the date of
this response and should be addressed to the Senior Information Officer at
the above address or by email to: [3][Essex Police request email]

 

We will conduct a review to investigate your complaint and endeavour to
reply within 20 working days.

 

Please explain which aspect of the reply you are not satisfied with, and
if your complaint concerns the decision to apply an exemption it would
assist the review if you would outline why you believe the exemption does
not apply.

               

If you are still dissatisfied following our review, you have the right
under section 50 of the Act to complain directly to the Information
Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information
Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints
procedures provided by Essex Police

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF or via [4]https://ico.org.uk/

 

 

 

 

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