Why doesn’t my community have animal cops like the ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement agents? How can we get animal cops where I live?
Establishing a dedicated squad of animal cruelty officers with investigatory and arrest powers, like the ASPCA’s HLE agents in New York, requires changes to a state’s statute. This is extremely difficult to achieve. The next best thing you can do to make sure that complaints of animal cruelty are answered is to work with your community’s current police officers, who already have the power to enforce all of your state’s laws—including animal cruelty laws. Police are paid with tax dollars—you have the right to be the proverbial “squeaky wheel” and make sure that they are willing and able to respond to cruelty. One idea is to lobby your police department to implement a plan similar to the one used by the police force of Granite City, IL. The Granite City Police Department asked for existing officers who liked animals to volunteer to be regular responders to animal- and cruelty-related complaints and 911 emergencies. At the department’s request, educators from the ASPCA gave these officers
Establishing a dedicated squad of animal cruelty officers with investigatory and arrest powers, like the ASPCA’s HLE agents in New York, requires changes to a state’s statute. This is extremely difficult to achieve. The next best thing you can do to make sure that complaints of animal cruelty are answered is to work with your community’s current police officers, who already have the power to enforce all of your state’s laws—including animal cruelty laws. Police are paid with tax dollars—you have the right to be the proverbial “squeaky wheel” and make sure that they are willing and able to respond to cruelty. One idea is to lobby your police department to implement a plan similar to the one used by the police force of Granite City, IL. The Granite City Police Department asked for existing officers who liked animals to volunteer to be regular responders to animal- and cruelty-related complaints and 911 emergencies. At the department’s request, educators from the ASPCA gave these officers
Related Questions
- Does my gift to other animal welfare organizations (such as Humane Society of the United States, PETA or ASPCA) help animals in Portage County?
- Why doesn’t my community have animal cops like the ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement agents? How can we get animal cops where I live?
- I live outside of Shelby County. Can I still bring a found animal to Shelby Humane Society?
