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Expert Witness in Dangerous Dogs E001
An Expert Witness is someone accepted by a court as a person with specialist, experienced knowledge in a subject that can give an opinion to the court.
You could be instructed by prosecution or defence to examine or assess a dog's behaviour or determine whether you think a dog is a banned breed type or both.
This course is designed to add skills to already experienced dog behaviourists and does not guarantee that you or your evidence will be accepted in court.
There are 10 modules to be completed over 9-18 months, sold individually in order at a cost of £250 per module.
There is no specific definition of what experience or training or qualifications makes someone an expert in dangerous dogs. The court decides whether evidence offered can be accepted as expert or not.
Criminal Procedure Rules section 19 covers the legal rules of report writing, accepted structure etc.
An expert witness must be independent, honest and professional. They examine the evidence, the dog, the home and write a suitable report. If needed, they give live evidence in court.
The course consists of 10 modules that cover the various parts of the Dangerous Dogs Act, the Dogs Act 1871 and other related legislation.
They also cover assessment structure, evidence evaluation, report writing, GDPR, risk assessing, joint expert reports and good practice.
The final module is a mock up of a criminal file with statements, photos and other relevant material and requires you to write up a strategy for assessing, whether more evidence is needed and what your recommendations are likely to be.
Each module must be successfully completed and assessed as a pass before you are given the next one.