Six reasons Richmond Animal Care & Control belongs under Police

On Monday night, Richmond City Council decided to postpone its scheduled vote on proposed papers that would reassign agencies once housed under the Department of General Services to new departments within the existing City structure.

Council will revisit these same papers, and members will discuss the reassignment of Richmond Animal Care and Control, one of the affected divisions, among others at its next meeting on March 22 at 6 p.m.

If City Administration has its way, RAC&C will move to the Department of Public Works, however, some members of City Council believe consideration should be given to placement within the Police Department.

I have a hard time believing there is even a question as to the merits of the latter over the former. Similarities between Police and Animal Care and Control are many, while similarities between Public Works (responsible for leaf and snow removal, road and tree maintenance and garbage collection) and RAC&C are nonexistent.

I believe it is crucially important that RAC&C be reassigned to the Police Department. Rationale for my opinion, and that of the Richmond SPCA, includes:

• RAC&C serves an important public safety function, and citizens rely on it to respond promptly and effectively to emergency calls.
• The division is responsible for investigating and aiding in the prosecution of animal-related crimes, most notably dog fighting and animal abuse and neglect.
• As a public safety agency, its resources and staffing levels must be protected from debilitating reductions floated or mandated during difficult budget years.
• Public Works has no similarity to or understanding of the functions of animal control.
• The prevailing assignment of animal control divisions in the state and across the country is Police due in large part to the many synergies that naturally exist among public safety agencies.
• Reassignment to Police would impart a valuable level of credibility and respect to the crucial functions of RAC&C.

Perhaps City Administration has sufficient justification for the proposed reassignment of RAC&C to Public Works. If it does, I haven’t yet heard it.

Do you agree that RAC&C belongs under the Police Department rather than under Public Works? Post your thoughts.

Tamsen Kingry is the chief operating officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography, or that of our other bloggers, please click here.

Comments

[Kelly]

I agree 100% that animal control belongs under the police department rather than public works. It's just what is best to ensure that cases of animal abuse are more easily recognized and can be prosecuted.
Furthermore, on a similar note, I would love to see Virginia introduce legislation similar to what is being pushed in California - that of creating an animal cruelty registry (similar to how sex offenders are tracked). You can learn more about that here:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1969346,00.html

[Gail]

The State of Virginia has acknowledged the seriousness of animal fighting and deemed it a felony. The fact is that animal neglect and abuse is often a precurser to or a strong indicator of domestic abuse and neglect. Given just these two points alone, it is absolutely a "no-brainer" to place Richmond Animal Care and Control under the RPD as it should be.