01/FOI/26/007834/Y - Dog attack offences and arrests

Request:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would be grateful if you could provide the following information for each calendar year from 2021 to the most recent period available.

1. The total number of offences recorded under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
2. The total number of offences recorded under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (dog dangerously out of control).
3. The total number of arrests made in connection with offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
4. The total number of arrests made in connection with Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (dog dangerously out of control).
5. Where recorded, the age of the victim, grouped into the following bands:
   • Under 18
   • 18-24
   • 25-34
   • 35-44
   • 45-54
   • 55-64
   • 65+
6. The number of victims recorded as:
   • Postal workers, couriers and delivery drivers;
   • Utility workers, engineers or contractors.

7. The number of dogs seized in connection with Dangerous Dogs Act offences.
8. The number of dogs destroyed in connection with Dangerous Dogs Act offences.
9. Where recorded, the breed or suspected breed involved in the greatest number of recorded offences during the most recent year available.

If any of the requested information is not centrally recorded, please provide any information that is held in a reasonably retrievable format.

Response:

Humberside Police can confirm we do hold the information you requested.

1. The total number of offences recorded under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

2. The total number of offences recorded under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (dog dangerously out of control).

As per above in question 1, all the above are Section 3, there were no offences recorded outside of Section 3.

3. The total number of arrests made in connection with offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

4. The total number of arrests made in connection with Section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (dog dangerously out of control).

As per above in question 3, all the above are Section 3, there were no offences recorded outside of section 3.

5.

6.Please note that the victim’s occupation is not a mandatory field and therefore there are many results which do not provide information relating to the request. In addition, the data provided shows the number of crimes where the victim has an occupation listed above, but this does not mean they were performing their job at the time of the act.

7.

8.

9. Please note, a keyword search has been completed on the 393 crimes for 2026 to ascertain the below data. The breed of dog is not a regularly recorded field.

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide information and statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force’s response to your questions should not be used for the comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.