Information showing the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act in the north-west region by police force area from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table. The Ministry of Justice do not centrally collect data by local authority area.
Data for 2008 will be available towards the end of 2009.
Proceeded against Found guilty Force 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Cheshire 25 15 7 14 20 16 11 2 8 16 Cumbria 16 18 17 24 24 11 13 12 18 12 Greater Manchester 65 53 56 60 60 48 33 40 45 44 Lancashire 28 27 31 41 40 16 11 18 28 25 Merseyside 17 25 18 18 40 5 14 12 8 27 North-west region 151 138 129 157 184 96 82 84 107 124 1 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit, Ministry of Justice