SPCA Officers volunteer time to protect animals-2/4/00-

BYLINE: LAURA BARNHARDT, Staff Writer Sgt. Michael Crowe stands on a trash can in the cold evening drizzle, flashlight in his mouth, peering over a 13-foot fence. "Don't laugh,"he tells his partner, Agent Frank Rizzo, who nods dutifully and looks through a hole in the fence. For this mission, Crowe and Rizzo both are in uniform and carrying guns. Their police-type patrol car is parked at the curb of the Garfield residence. They're not police officers, though. A woman answers the door and Crowe flips out a metal badge. "We're here about your dog,"he says. Crowe and Rizzo are investigators with the Bergen County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They are volunteers, and 1 NEW3 they have come to check out neighbors complaints that the family pet is being abused. The woman leads Crowe and Rizzo around back so they can get a better look at her black chow, which turns out to be in good condition even though it's 25 degrees outside and there's no food or water in the soup bowls used as dog dishes. The woman can't explain why the doghouse is behind a chain-link fence, making it impossible for the animal to take shelter in the freezing rain. "I take the dog inside when it gets too cold,"she tells Rizzo and Crowe. But while she's at work, the neighbors tell the investigators, the dog cries and barks constantly. "People want to have beautiful dogs,"Rizzo said."They just don't always know how to, or want to, take care of them. "Sometimes it really gets to you. They're defenseless animals." The concerned neighbors thank Crowe and Rizzo for coming before the two head off to investigate a half-dozen other complaints. Some turn out to be glaring examples of ignorance, others outright cruelty. Crowe and Rizzo are among 32 investigators, in addition to two special prosecutors, who handle about 900 animal cruelty and neglect complaints in Bergen County each year. In Passaic County, 10 investigators handle more than 400 cases annually, said Lt. Robert B. Boyle, who heads field operations there. The volume of calls increases during harsh weather, when residents are more likely to report neighbors who abandon their cats while the family vacations or those who leave a dog outside in freezing temperatures. The law enforcement division of Bergen's SPCA drew attention this winter when Hackensack environmentalist Eric Martindale was charged with beating his 4-month-old puppy to death. The agency acted as both special police and prosecutor in the case, first responding to the bloody scene and later arranging a plea bargain for Martindale, who was sentenced to 300 hours of community service digging graves in a pet cemetery. Although the case generated hundreds of calls and letters offering support for the SPCA's role, Deputy Chief Jason Peters said,"I think many people still aren't sure who we are and what we do." Some residents confuse the SPCA with the 1 NEW3 ASPCA in New York. Others mistakenly think the group runs an animal shelter, Peters said. There's a county animal shelter in Teterboro, but it has nothing to do with the SPCA. "For us, it would be counterproductive to run a shelter because we have Teterboro,"Peters said."Still, people get mad because we won't pick up a dead possum from their lawn." Depending on the community, some SPCA chapters focus more on rescuing stray and unwanted pets. However, the state requires every chapter of the SPCA in New Jersey to enforce animal cruelty laws. In Monmouth County, for example, Director Ursula Goetz said two volunteers investigate 350 to 450 cruelty complaints each year, while 200 volunteers help run a spay and neuter clinic, pet adoption service, and shelter. In Bergen and Passaic, the local chapters are devoted entirely to investigating animal neglect and cruelty reports, ranging from animals left behind when a family moves, to those who are trapped and left to die. "Just because it pees in your flower garden, it doesn't mean you can put it in a metal cage and leave it there,"Peters said. Most investigators explain the laws to offenders and issue tickets for disorderly persons offenses, which carry penalties of up to $ 1,000 in fines and a six-month prison sentence. The investigators say their work is critical for various reasons. Often, Peters said, animal abuse escalates into violence against humans. "Today it's the dog,"he said."Tomorrow it's the kid." Sometimes, SPCA investigators find evidence of child abuse, domestic violence, or drug activity during their follow-ups, information that Peters said is passed on to police. Responding to an animal cruelty complaint in Moonachie last winter, SPCA investigators found a family, including an infant, living in a house with no heat. Officers called the local police and the state Division of Youth and Family Services to conduct investigations. Because FBI studies have shown that most known serial killers have mutilated animals before killing people, SPCA Prosecutor Raymond Koski proposes that either the FBI or the state police keep track of people who abuse animals. "It's not on criminal records,"Koski said, noting that 1 NEW3 instances of animal abuse are considered disorderly persons offenses in New Jersey. "When that person does something else later, it looks like he or she has a clean record." Lisa B. Weisberg, the vice president for government affairs at the ASPCA in New York, said the organization will lobby this year to create a felony cruelty law in New Jersey. New York passed a law last year that increased the offense for killing a pet to a third-degree felony, with a potential sentence of three to five years in prison and a $ 15,000 fine. None of the SPCA investigators and prosecutors in Bergen and Passaic counties are paid. Yet each investigator works a 14-day rotation, fielding up to several dozen calls a week. If there's an emergency call during the day, the investigators must take time off from their paid jobs or find a colleague to stand in. The dispatch center is Peters kitchen table. "I love animals dearly," said Koski, a tax attorney."I enjoy the criminal work but couldn't afford my lifestyle if it was my career. I think community service is 1 NEW3 important.... And I think we really help people." The organization gets no tax dollars. Donations to the Bergen and Passaic SPCAs fund radio equipment, patrol cars, and bulletproof vests, Peters said. Some police are wary of the SPCA investigators carrying guns, although Peters said they must complete firearms training with a certified police academy instructor. Peters, who teaches animal handling and the investigating of ritualistic and satanic crimes at the Passaic County Police Academy, also provides in-house training for SPCA investigators. Courses include recognizing child abuse and domestic violence, handling emotionally disturbed people, use of force, radio communications, self-defense, and seizing evidence, Peters said. Still, the SPCA investigators hear criticism that they easily could be mistaken for police officers. "We're not going out there making believe we're cops,"Koski said. "We're trying to solve a problem, not create one.... We carry guns for protection, but if there looks like there's going to be any trouble when we get to a house, we leave immediately and return with a police officer." In many towns, SPCA investigators are welcomed by police, who have enough to do without having to respond to complaints about barking dogs. "They help us a lot with animal-related cases,"said Saddle Brook Police Chief Bob Kugler. To report animal abuse or neglect in Bergen County call (201) 398-1119. In Passaic County, call (973) 773-0459. Copyright 2000 Bergen Record Corp. The Record (Bergen County, NJ)