California: Animal control officers go through scenario-based training which includes officer safety

CALIFORNIA -- When it comes to man’s best friend, animal abuse investigators take the crime of animal cruelty seriously.  The training to investigate animal abuse is really no different than a police officer gets to investigate a human assault or homicide.

“It’s my house, I’m just hanging out and having a beer with my dog and all.”

 

 

The man in the green polo shirt is an animal control officer who was dispatched to investigate a sick dog at a residence.

“This is Brutus, he’s doing a real good job.  He’s always with me, I keep him leashed real close to me,” he said.

The officer sees another problem than what he was dispatched here for…it’s a handgun.  On the table, there is a handgun, and all the implements to have a cockfighting ring and clearly something more serious than just a sick dog at this house.

 

The scenario is over and now for the critique.

“So, when you walked in, what did you see?  You saw a gun.  Did you feel that comfortable about coming that close to me if I still had access to the gun?” he said.

A reminder to the officers is safety first and to back away and call the police when guns are in sight of you.  This scenario is just one of several real-life situations animal investigators face on the job.

“What we have here is one of the scenarios we actually have a photograph of what the horse looks like that we want them to think of they’re investigating,” Steven MacKinnon said, Chief of Humane Law Enforcement at the San Diego Humane Society.

From horses, to dogs and cats, it’s all about preparing officers to make the judgements and enforcement choices on the street.

“This last scenario is gonna be a cat hoarding situation.  Officers on a regular basis unfortunately run into hoarding situations,” MacKinnon said.

“When you go into these situations, each situation is different.  You want to make sure you’re going to be able to go home at the night, but at the same time you want to focus on your job, which is the welfare of the animal,” Adam Sturgess said, of Rancho Cucamonga Animal Control.

“What I tell my officers, it’s not the animals that’s the problem, its the people.  It’s lack of education, lack of understanding about what the needs of their pets are, so we do a lot of education much more than enforcement,” MacKinnon said.

  

Multiple studies in the past decade have shown animal cruelty offenders typically commit violent crimes against people as well.  All the more reason animal officers need this preparation .

“We have those talents, just like a police investigator would have, to focus specifically on animal crimes,”  MacKinnon adds.

(CW6 San Diego - Oct 21, 2016)