Proactive responses

Following several dog attacks in 2023, some of which caused serious injuries and death, we have seen an rise in the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests on this matter.

To satisfy high demand and reduce the amount of FOI requests, we will publish information on dangerous and out-of-control dogs sought by members of the public every six months.

Information on offences relating to dangerous dogs is held within our crime recording system and has been recorded since 2015.

Related documents

• Dangerous dogs 2015-25 (PDF)
• Dangerous dogs July 2025 update (PDF)

Members of the public continue to submit Freedom of Information (FOI) requests relating to JourneyCam reports they have uploaded.

In response to those, Avon and Somerset’s roads policing teams will publish a spreadsheet containing this information at the end of each month.

JourneyCams capture road-related offences and reports can feature footage filmed by:

• dash cams
• bicycle or helmet cameras
• mobile phones

Related document

• JourneyCam report October 2020 – May 2025 (Excel)

The Freedom of Information team regularly receive requests for the number of officers, staff, PCSOs and special constables employed by Avon and Somerset Police.

Detailed statistics are published nationally every six months for all 43 police forces in England and Wales. However, due to the level of demand for this type of information, we have taken then decision to publish more regular updates on our website.

This document will show total headcounts, excluding secondments and casual workers, as of the last day of each month.

Related documents

• Monthly headcount April 2025 (Excel)

Until recently, we were using the recommended National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidance on Searching by trans employees of the police force.

On 11 January 2024, the NPCC temporarily withdrew this guidance to allow for further consultation. The NPCC has advised forces to revert to their own search guidance in the interim.

Since our guidance was based on the NPCC guidance, we are urgently reviewing our position, including seeking legal advice.

In the interim, all searches are being carried out in line with the officer or staff member’s training and legal authority, taking into account our responsibilities under Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, and, where a person has been detained, as authorised by the Custody Sergeant.

This authorisation must take into consideration the response of the detainee and officers concerned to ensure any conflict is reduced or avoided, and searches are conducted safely and with dignity.

Related documents

• CODE A, Annex A of PACE Code A
• CODE C, Annex A of PACE Code C – Revised code of practice for the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers

A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender. Avon and Somerset Police also recognise prejudice based on gender (including misogyny).  ‘Hate crimes’ includes:

• all crimes with a hate indicator
• all crimes with a hate crime type classification
• all racially or religiously aggravated crimes

We have published the following information relating to hate crimes in the Hate crime and non-hate crime incidents publication (Excel):

Tab 1 – Hate Crimes by month, since January 2015

• Table 1 – Hate crimes broken down by crime group
• Table 2 – Hate crimes broken down by hate type (more than one hate type may be applied)
• Table 3 – Hate crimes broken down by outcome
• Table 4 – Hate crimes broken down by offence group and hate type (as above, more than one hate type may be applied)

Tab 2 – Victim and Suspect details in hate crimes since January 2015

• Table 1 – Suspect Age – by month
• Table 2 – Victim Age – by month
• Table 3 – Suspect Gender – by month
• Table 4 – Victim Gender – by month
• Table 5 – Victim General Ethnicity – by year
• Table 6 – Suspect General Ethnicity - by year

 

Tab 3 – Hate Crimes in each year, by Outcome and Hate Type, since 2015

Within tab 3, crimes with a current outcome classification of ‘New – Under Investigation’, will be collated into one row and not broken down by hate type. This is to avoid undermining ongoing investigations.

Tab 4 – Arrests and Voluntary Attendance Interviews (VA), since 2015

• Table 1 – Arrests and VAs for hate crimes in each year, broken down by hate type
• Table 2 – Arrests and VAs for crimes with a hate indicator, broken down by offence group

Tab 5 – Guilty verdicts in hate crimes heard at Magistrates Court, broken down by hate type, since 2015 (Avon and Somerset Police hold information relating to court verdicts only for cases heard in Magistrates Court).

 

Non Crime Hate Incidents (NCHI):

A non-crime hate incident (NCHI) means an incident or alleged incident which involves or is alleged to involve an act by a person (‘the subject’) which is perceived by a person other than the subject to be motivated – wholly or partly – by hostility or prejudice towards persons with a particular characteristic.

Information on NCHIs is held on two separate systems:

1. our Command and Control system, STORM, on which all 999 and 101 calls are logged
2. our crime recording system, Niche

The latter contains information on a proportion of NCHIs recorded, as incidents are automatically pushed through to our crime recording system if they have not been classified as a non-crime within a certain period. We are able to identify the number of non-crime occurrences held on Niche that have a hate qualifier linked. However, this would not represent complete information, as not all NCHIs are pushed through to Niche in this way, and so a proportion would be excluded from the results.

Complete information on NCHIs would therefore only be available via searches of both Niche and STORM. However, within STORM we do not have a specific data field or category that enables us to search for NCHIs. For this reason, the retrieval of complete data on NCHIs is complex and would require a manual review of all reports recorded in any potentially relevant, broader category. Where requests for this type of information have been received under the Freedom of Information Act, we have unfortunately had to refuse the request for these reasons, under Section 12(1) relating to costs.

Non Crime occurrences that have been recorded in our crime recording system with a hate qualifier

We have published the following information relating to all Non Crime occurrences that have been recorded in Niche under any of the following incident types, with a hate qualifier:

• IR002 – Incident Report – Hate Incident
• IR005 – Incident Report – Anti Social Behaviour (Case managed)
• CRI0018 UNCONFIRMED – Unconfirmed Crime by Victim or Third Party
• CRI0022 OOF AREA – Out of Force Area
• IR004 – Incident Report – Safeguarding adult
• CRI0019 SCHOOLS – Schools Protocol
• IR003 – Incident Report – Safeguarding child
• IR006 – Incident Report – Enhanced ASB Victim (Lighthouse)
• CRI0022 OOF AREA – TRANSFERRED OR WITH OWNING FORCE
• CRI0022 OOF AREA – PENDING TRANSFER
• CRI0021 OOFRT – Out of Force Refused Transfer
• NR008 – • Non-Notifiable Crime – Victim Based – VCOP Required
• 011/03 – Cruelty to and neglect of children

For the reasons explained above, this does not equate to complete data on Non Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs).

Tab 6 – Non Crime occurrences recorded in Niche with a hate qualifier, with victim and suspect details, by year since 2015

• Table 1 – Count of non recordable occurrences with a hate qualifier, by incident type
• Table 2 – Non crime occurrences broken down by hate type
• Table 3 – Non crime occurrences broken down by outcome
• Table 4 – Suspect Age
• Table 5 – Victim Age
• Table 6 – Suspect Gender
• Table 7 – Victim Gender
• Table 8 – Suspect General Ethnicity
• Table 9 – Victim General Ethnicity
• Table 10 – Count of arrests and voluntary attendance interviews

As stated above, some information has been published by month, while other aspects have been published by year, to avoid identifying individuals. Where information is published by month, it will be updated every 6 months. Where information has been published by year, it will also be updated every 6 months, with the exception of:

• Tables 8 and 9 within tab 6 – showing suspect and victim general ethnicity for non-crime hate incidents

This data will be updated every 12 months, to show a full calendar year. This is to avoid identifying individuals or undermining any ongoing investigations, given the low numbers and level of detail shown.

For data published by year and updated every 6 months, an asterisk indicates the data is for the first six months of that year. For example, 2025* indicates that data is shown up to 30 June 2025.

The data will be carefully assessed to ensure that no personal information is identifiable. For example, depending on the number of occurrences identified, it may be that a breakdown by month cannot be provided for some aspects of the information from Data Insight.  This would then be exempt information under Section 40(2) of the FOI Act should a further request come in for a breakdown by month.

The data will be updated every 6 months.