Dog and cat theft (FOI ref: 32/26)
Request
1a. What were the total number of dog theft/abduction crimes in 2024, and in 2025 (with monthly breakdowns if possible)?
1b. What was the outcome (charge/summons, community resolution, active investigation, evidential difficulties, no suspect identified) for each dog theft/abduction crime in 2024, and 2025?
1c. Please show how many of the recorded crime outcomes in 2024 and 2025 are under:
i. The Theft Act 1968
ii. The Pet Abduction Act 2024
1d. How many dogs were listed with each dog theft/abduction crime in 2024 and 2025?
1e. Can details about stolen/abducted dog breed, gender, age, and location of theft (walk, home, garden, outside shop, from car etc) also be provided for 2024 and 2025 please?
2a. What were the total number of cat theft/abduction crimes in 2024, and in 2025 (with monthly breakdowns if possible)?
2b. What was the outcome (charge/summons, community resolution, active investigation, evidential difficulties, no suspect identified) for each cat theft/abduction crime in 2024, and 2025?
2c. Please show how many of the recorded crime outcomes in 2024 and 2025 are under:
i. The Theft Act 1968
ii. The Pet Abduction Act 2024
2d. How many cats were listed with each dog theft/abduction crime in 2024 and 2025?
2e. Can details about stolen/abducted cat breed, gender, age, and location of theft also be provided for 2024 and 2025 please?
Response
Please find attached (32_26_attachment.pdf).
Please note that this data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting the data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
Attachment