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Dangerous Dogs Act

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in (a) England and Wales and (b) London have been prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each year since it was passed. [68261]

Mr. Byrne: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of people have been prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 for England and Wales, and London, from 1992 to 2004, is shown in the following table.

Court statistics for 2005 will be available in autumn 2006.


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15 May 2006 : Column 718W
Number of people proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in London, 1992 to 2004( 1)
Offence description Statute( 2) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Owner or person In charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place injuring any person.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1).

65

94

68

53

29

35

46

Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3)

9

4

5

4

4

5

5

Breeding or breeding from a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(a)

9

2

0

1

2

1

0

Selling, exchanging, offering, advertising or exposing for sale a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(b)

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

Giving or offering to give a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(c)

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

Allowing a fighting dog to be in a public place without a muzzle or a lead.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(d)

103

39

15

11

6

5

4

Abandoning, or allowing to stray, a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(e).

9

7

8

2

2

1

0

Possession, without exemption, of a Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa or other designated fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(3)

100

93

31

20

10

9

13

Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, no injury being caused.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1)

70

67

50

31

21

24

15

Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non- public place causing reasonable apprehension of injury to a person.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3).

7

10

0

3

1

0

0

Failing to give up a dog for destruction or having custody of a dog while disqualified.

Badgers (further protection) Act 1991 Sec.1. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec. 4(8). Protection of Badgers Act 1 992 Sec. 13.

0

2

1

0

0

0

0

Total

375

318

178

125

76

80

83


Offence description Statute 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Owner or person In charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place injuring any person.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1).

45

53

58

59

63

64

Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3)

1

3

2

2

4

2

Breeding or breeding from a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(a)

0

1

1

6

0

1

Selling, exchanging, offering, advertising or exposing for sale a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(b)

0

0

0

0

0

0

Giving or offering to give a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(c)

0

0

0

0

0

0

Allowing a fighting dog to be in a public place without a muzzle or a lead.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(2)(d)

1

2

4

2

1

1

Abandoning, or allowing to stray, a fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec1(2)(e).

2

0

0

0

0

0

Possession, without exemption, of a Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa or other designated fighting dog.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 1(3)

9

3

2

1

1

1

Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, no injury being caused.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(1)

19

28

29

16

19

13

Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non- public place causing reasonable apprehension of injury to a person.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec 3(3).

2

2

1

0

3

0

Failing to give up a dog for destruction or having custody of a dog while disqualified.

Badgers (further protection) Act 1991 Sec.1. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 Sec. 4(8). Protection of Badgers Act 1 992 Sec. 13.

0

0

0

0

0

0

Total

79

92

97

86

91

82

(1) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(2) Offence codes for Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 were introduced to the court proceeding database from 1 January1992.

DNA

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans are in place to integrate the National DNA Database with other national forensic and intelligence databases; and if he will make a statement. [68463]

Mr. Byrne: The National DNA Database currently has a link to the police national computer (PNC) to enable the police to tell whether someone arrested for a recordable offence has provided a DNA sample on a previous occasion. The national fingerprint system, IDENT1, is also connected to the PNC, but not directly to the National DNA Database. It is planned to pass limited information from IDENT1 to the NDNAD via the PNC in order to link records, contributing to PNC record integrity, without major integration of the systems.

Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines he has given to chief constables on the manner in which they should exercise their discretion whether to destroy DNA samples. [47730]

Mr. Byrne: Home Office circular 25/2001 states that, when an individual is cleared of an offence, samples taken as evidence during an investigation may be retained, but that they may only be used for the purposes of prevention and detection of crime, the investigation of an offence, the conduct of a prosecution or, since April 2005, for the purposes of identifying a deceased person.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) issued guidelines on 31 January 2006 to all chief officers on the exercise of their discretion to destroy DNA samples and remove the DNA profile from the national DNA database in exceptional circumstances. These guidelines will help to ensure national consistency.

The codes of practice (D) relating to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 give guidance on when retained samples may be used and the procedures for destruction.

The only time samples would be used is if a match were shown between an individual's DNA profile and that recovered from a crime scene.


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