POLICE SOLVED ONLY 2% OF DOG THEFTS IN THE UK LAST YEAR

ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL POLICE FIGURES (obtained by the kennel club) of the 2,355 instances of #Dogtheft recorded by the police in 2020 less than 25 offences were solved. This figure could be even worse because of the 45 forces asked to provide the figures under a freedom of information request only 36 police forces responded.

This means that 98% of dog thefts go un-detected and of those forces that responded only three, the Metropolitan, Kent and Cheshire Constabulary brought charges against a suspect. That means at least 33 police forces across the UK did not catch and prosecute a single dog thief.

Those areas most effected by dog theft are the Northwest (14 percent) London (14 percent) and the Southeast (13 percent) but please note these figures are just the offences that are actually recorded by the police and there are many other thefts that go unrecorded because the owners cannot prove to the police that their missing dog has been stolen.

The Kennel club have now launched their own campaign called ‘PAW AND ORDER DOG THEFT REFORM’ where it is calling on the police to introduce a centralised database containing details of all dog thefts.

We have been asking for this type of database for ages, so it is great to see the Kennel Club are now onboard with this initiative and let’s hope the #Petthefttaskforce are paying attention.

If you want to obtain a better understanding of why the police are failing to make an impact on this awful crime, then watch our video Why Don’t the Police Know How Many Dogs are Stolen?

Colin Butcher

The Pet Detective