A Notts council is encouraging the public to track the movements of dog walkers who fail to clean up after their pets.
Mansfield District Council said it needed people to “gather evidence” to make it easier for enforcement officers to dish out fines.
The authority’s wardens have the power to hand out civil £75 penalties to anyone not picking up after a dog or not carrying bags with them when out and about with an animal.
But it can be hard for staff to act as they are required to actually witness a person’s dog fouling an area or catch someone without poop scoop bags.
The council ran month-long campaign in April after getting more than 150 complaints about dog fouling across the district between November 2015 and March 2016.
But the authority says it has been difficult to catch the worst offenders.
From next month, people who complain to the council about dog fouling will be asked for information as to where it occurred, a description of the dog, and the owner’s name and address.
Portfolio holder for Public Protection, Cllr Mick Barton, said: “This recent campaign showed that most dog owners had bags and picked up after their dogs, but dog fouling is still a problem which we want to reduce.
“We would like residents to help us catch offenders by gathering information about when and where they walk their dogs.”
He added: “It is evident that the presence of uniformed council staff does deter offenders, but it also means we don’t catch the worst offenders so we really need the public’s help in this.
“We urge residents to help and tell us where offending owners are walking their dogs and allowing them to foul.
“We need to know what times and days of the week this is happening and also descriptions of owners and dogs to help us to identify and catch them.”
More information about the appeal can be found on the Mansfield District Council website.
