Putnam SPCA Looks To Albany For Help Enforcing Animal Cruelty Laws

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — A bill working its way through the New York state legislature at the behest of the SPCA of Putnam would help its enforcement efforts, Chief Ken Ross, Jr. told Patch.

Bipartisan legislation to aid the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in its longstanding efforts in bringing people to justice who deliberately maim and kill animals was passed unanimously in the Senate in early March, sponsored by State Sen. Pete Harckham. A companion bill introduced by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal is working its way through the State Assembly.

"Our ability to streamline the process during an arrest allows us to identify the person committing these crimes," Ross said.

The bill (S.1182) would permit SPCA officers to have access to the live scan fingerprinting system used by law enforcement agencies following an arrest. The fingerprinting access would allow SPCA officers to complete the arrest procedures without the assistance of any other law enforcement personnel or agencies.

"Currently, when we make an arrest, we have to have a deputy or local police officer removed from the road to submit the Livescan information for us —fingerprint and pictures," Ross said.

SPCA police officers need to have the resources, Harckham said. “With live scan fingerprinting technology at their ready, these officers can know immediately if accused individuals have a history of animal abuse or are wanted for other violent crimes. This streamlining of the policing process will benefit our communities in countless ways while bringing greater justice to animals everywhere.”

The legislation would also clear up issues when the courts and district attorneys receive the Livescan criminal history reports, Ross said.

"In the past, the information only came back showing the agency processing Livescan," he said. "For some reason our information never showed up on the document. If we were needed by either entity, they had no way of knowing we were even involved. This resolves those issues and fixes a 'glitch' that never should have happened."

Ross said the problem for SPCAs that due to their NGO status, their enforcement authority didn't keep up as state animal cruelty laws evolved.

Technically any SPCA has the ability to have a law enforcement division; however, he said, most SPCAs in New York do not.

"When my son and I founded the Putnam County SPCA in 2010, our focus was law enforcement. We had worked in Westchester at their SPCA as law enforcement and there was a need in Putnam County as well. We left Westchester and started the new entity, the Putnam County SPCA," he said. "Not many SPCAs do enforcement like we do here in Putnam. We are 24/7 and it is our main focus. The majority don't have law enforcement divisions for different reasons. It is essentially operating a small police department based on donations. We are lucky to have some financial support from Putnam County and Town of Carmel but with all the mandates and regulations, we constantly need additional funds."

Ross said he did not think the pending law would encourage any additional SPCAs to start law enforcement divisions, just help the ones that already exist.

The number of animal cruelty cases in New York each year is impossible to calculate, as most instances of abuse and violence against animals are not reported, Harckham said. Neglect is the most common form of animal cruelty, followed by hoarding of animals and actual physical abuse and violence. SPCAs across New York noted a rise of animal cruelty because of problems relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, including cost of living increases, behavioral health issues and the expiration of eviction moratoriums.

According to Humane Society International, 85 percent of people arrested for animal abuse or cruelty have had multiple past arrests, an overwhelming majority of them felonies. Also, 70 percent of those who committed domestic violence were also found to be animal abusers.

Ross said state lawmakers had been very helpful.

"We had spoken with Senator Harkham in the past about some issues that we encounter and he was extremely happy to help us. Senator Rolison was a co-sponsor and we had met with him as well. On the Assembly side Matt Slater has been in the forefront of animal cruelty issues for us and Dana Levenberg has also been very responsive to us as well," Ross said.