Four Reasons Why KCACC Should Not Conduct Animal Cruelty Investigations
King County Animal Care & Control (KCACC) currently performs not only animal care and control functions, but also serves as the primary investigative body for the complaints of animal cruelty and neglect that come into its call center. Neither of the expert consultants were asked to explore this area of KCACC functions. However, the KCACC Citizens’ Advisory Committee recommended that animal cruelty responsibilities be transferred to the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) and other existing law enforcement agencies in the appropriate jurisdictions. Following are the top four reasons why licensed and fully trained law enforcement officials must be tasked with the job of investigating animal cruelty complaints and crimes.
1) Animal cruelty is a crime and, like all crimes, should be investigated by trained and equipped law enforcement.
Animal cruelty and abuse is, first and foremost, a crime of violence against innocent victims. And, just like any other crime, the only appropriate response is an investigation by law enforcement.
The King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) already investigates animal cruelty calls successfully when KCACC is unavailable (after hours, weekends, holidays, and when animal control officers are overburdened). Statistically, the sheriff's office sends 25% of the calls it receives reporting animal cruelty on to be prosecuted, whereas KCACC sends only 2% of its cruelty calls on to be prosecuted. This significant discrepancy in statistics suggests that KCACC is either not able to adequately assess animal cruelty cases, or does not actively pursue animal cruelty perpetrators.
The legitimacy of a cruelty investigation can be undermined when more than one agency is involved, especially when one of those agencies is not trained in law enforcement. Having a single law-enforcement agency, whether it be the sheriff's office or in some locations a local police department, will create an accountable, consistent and dependable crime investigation process.
Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York and San Francisco have either retired police officers, positions within the police force, or dedicated police units enforcing their animal cruelty and neglect laws. It’s time King County catches up!
2) Crimes against animals are often a predictor of crimes against people.
Animal abuse is often linked to crimes against humans. Studies have shown that people who abuse animals are:
- Five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people (domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault).
- Four times more likely to commit property crimes.
- Three times more likely to commit drug or disorderly-conduct offenses.
Every time an animal control officer enters a home where an animal is being abused, there is a high likelihood that another crime is also occurring – for example, child abuse, spousal abuse, or drug activity. Since animal control officers are not trained in law enforcement, they are not equipped to recognize these crimes or respond to them appropriately, and this puts both the public, and the animal control officers, at risk.
King County sheriff officers and local police officers have the experience and training to detect and investigate criminal activity. Animal control officers do not have this expertise.
3) KCSO and other law enforcement officers are equipped to protect themselves and the public.
KCSO has access to up to 200 patrol officers on the road who are able to respond to calls. In contrast, KCACC usually has no more than seven animal control officers able to respond to calls at any time – and usually far fewer than that, because these officers are often tasked with other responsibilities, such as providing basic animal care. NOTE: King County covers an area of more than 2,000 square miles, roughly the size of the entire state of Delaware.
KCSO officers and local police officers receive 18 weeks of classes and rigorous training prior to becoming fully-commissioned officers. They are armed, prepared to protect victims and the community at large, and completely resourced and able to process crime scenes. KCACC officers receive only two weeks of courses prior to becoming limited-commissioned officers. They are unarmed, unprepared to protect themselves or the public, and ineffectively resourced or trained to process crime scenes.
KCSO officers and local police officers are able to evaluate probable cause, issue warrants, and gather sufficient evidence to support all criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humans that are encountered while investigating animal cruelty. Animal control officers are unable to do this.
KCSO officers and local police officers are able to maintain the integrity of a crime scene, secure evidence, and protect civil rights in order to establish a viable case for prosecution. KCACC staff are unable to gather evidence and investigate animal cruelty cases effectively.
4) Transferring cruelty investigations to law enforcement is the only financially responsible solution.
With King County officials calling for fiscal restraint in view of a massive budget deficit, every effort should be made to cut costs without compromising government’s responsibility to uphold the public trust. This can be accomplished by transferring animal cruelty investigations to the King County Sheriff’s Office, an award-winning criminal investigation agency.
Although the ideal solution would be to establish a well-funded animal cruelty task force, in light of the looming budget deficit, KCSO has the existing infrastructure and training to immediately absorb animal cruelty investigations successfully without additional taxpayer dollars.
KCACC would need over one million dollars, plus annual salaries and benefits, to properly train and equip its officers so that they had crime assessment capabilities equal to fundamental law enforcement. This exorbitant amount of money still would not address the fact that KCACC has a very slow call response time due to its small staffing numbers, or cover the cost of basic criminal investigation tools and resources. Nor would it guarantee access to necessary crime databases. It also does not account for the months this system would be out of commission due to the fact that each animal control officer would require 18 weeks of training.
Any incremental investment into KCSO (such as a creating a "task force team" as described in the accompanying table) would create a model jurisdiction much like those in Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York and San Francisco.
Without spending an extra nickel, KCSO already has the following fundamental advantages over KCACC in providing effective investigation:
- KSCO has access to 200 patrol officers covering approximately 2,000 square miles, as opposed to 14 KCACC officers covering the same territory.
- KCSO officers already have training in assessing crimes against both humans and animals; KCACC officers would need to receive this training at great cost.
- KCSO officers are already trained in protecting themselves and the public; KCACC officers would need to receive this training at great cost.
- KCSO officers already have the authority and expertise to serve warrants and perform arrests; KCACC officers would need to receive this training at great cost.
- Unlike KCACC, KCSO officers already have all the resources necessary to process a crime scene, such as evidence kits, evidence storage facilities, and interview rooms.
- KSCO have access to criminal record and other databases, which allow officers to prepare themselves before walking into a potentially dangerous situation.
The time for this change is now.
The current animal cruelty investigation process in King County is broken, as has been acknowledged by representatives from the KCSO, the King County Prosecuting Attorney Office, and even KCACC. Under the current system, response times are slow, investigations are inadequate, and animal control officers without proper training put themselves, the animals, and the public at risk.
Abigail Cromwell, now a deputy attorney for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, put it best in an article she wrote early last year:
“The people of Washington should be proud of their animal cruelty statutes. But to be effective, these laws must be enforced … as other jurisdictions in America have done. Only with dependable law enforcement and capable prosecution will offenders of this terrible crime be caught, punished and rehabilitated … King County can and should lead Washington in this important direction to successfully stop animal abuse.”
For references for the above information and more details, please refer to this table [link to table] comparing the capabilities of KCACC and KCSO.