Stray Dogs and The Police - Do These People Actually Talk to Each Other?
Posted By Ryan O'Meara Date: 2/04 Posted Under: Animal Welfare, Social IssuesThe Police have been itching to ‘get rid of’ their responsibility for dealing with stray dogs for some time according to one very senior officer within the North Wales constabulary.
Stray dogs are a ‘pain’ for the police to deal with.
A modern police force doesn’t want to be anchored down with looking after strays, and besides, the police ‘aren’t very good at looking after dogs’ any way.
Interesting stuff.
The above are the thoughts of the Chief Constable of North Wales police, Richard Brunstrom.
He says on his blog
For the police, stray dogs are a pain. The law (dating from 1907!) still requires the police to accept stray dogs handed in by members of the public. This is very much an anachronism in today’s world, and causes the police real difficulty – and to be honest, we’re not very good at looking after dogs. We have to maintain facilities at police stations which often cause noise, welfare and hygiene problems. And there’s the paperwork. All in all, they’re a real nuisance to us and way removed from our modern task as a service.
So I’ve been trying to get rid of our remaining duty to accept strays (most other aspects of stray dog work were long ago picked up by local authorities). Governments are always claiming to be trying to reduce police bureaucracy and unnecessary tasks, but they rarely go on to actually achieve anything once the Minister has had his or her soundbite.
So, it would appear, this particular police man is fairly unequivocable in his opinion. Stray dogs are a drag, the police don’t want or need the hassle and besides, the police aren’t cut out for looking after dogs anyway.
Interesting. But in a sterling attempt to prove that the hand doesn’t know what the arm is doing….
Yesterday’s edition of the Bradford Telegraph and Argus worries that due to confusion over changeover and a lack of funding, we could be about to enter a period of stray dog uncertainty.
Nestled within the report, John Prentice, director of transport and logistics at West Yorkshire Police, said:
“This issue has come about because of a change in the law, not because the Police no longer wish to take in stray dogs from the public.
While responsibility for dealing with stray dogs now lies with the relevant local authorities, West Yorkshire Police will continue to fulfil its obligations with regards to dangerous dogs and other dog-related criminal matters.”
Which is enough to make one wonder, do police forces actually talk to each other?
North Wales’ chief constable: “I’ve been trying to get rid of our remaining duty to accept strays”
West Yorkshire’s director: “(it is) not because the Police no longer wish to take in stray dogs”
The great Spanish surrealist painter, Salvador Dali once said “The greatest form of communication is chaos”. Whilst he may have been able to apply such ‘logic’ to his surreal world of surreal things, surrounded by his surreal friends and surreal ideas, perhaps dealing with the impending problems of stray dogs should be handled with a little more clear thinking?
However, it is comforting to hear such a senior police officer admit what many people who have had their dog seized under the Dangerous Dogs Act have known for years:
To be honest, we’re not very good at looking after dogs.
Really? You don’t say…..
9 Months Locked up Under Dangerous Dogs Law - Now Duke, the Lurcher Cross, is Back Home
Border Collie Almost Starves to Death in Police ‘Care’
Police Neglect Stray Dog For A Week - No Charges Brought
Family Dog Dies in Police Care
Perhaps when he says, the police are not very good at looking after dogs, he might spare a thought for those people who are worrying about the welfare of the animals seized under the Dangerous Dogs act, now in the care of the police?
Author DetailsRyan O'Meara is editor-in-chief of K9 Magazine, the lifestyle magazine for dog lovers. He lives in the East Midlands with his own two dogs, Mia and Chloe. - See this author's webpage
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Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 4:18 am and is filed under Animal Welfare, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Bizarre
If only they would be honest about all this!
I attended an animal welfare seminar where a police officer commented in passing during the police presentation that the officer from the Association of Chief Police Officers responsible for dealing with dog issues ‘thinks that all dogs and their owners should be shot’ (or words to that effect)
I wonder who the senior office from the ACPO responsible for dogs is…..oh yes, Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom!
Isn’t the real reason for all of this the result of the RSPCA’s greed?
They have been refusing to take stray dogs unless the people who have found them have taken the dog to the police first because then the police become responsible for paying the RSPCA all their costs. And we all know the raging controversy over the astronomical costs the RSPCA claims for looking after animals!
It was about time the government put a stop to the RSPCA’s virtual blackmail of everyone to fund the job that the public donates to them to do.
I and many others I know have stopped giving money to the RSPCA and will only give money to those charities that actually do something to look after animals.
Hi Nik
I am no fan of the political branch of the RSPCA but the government has not done this to stop the RSPCA making money. The RSPCA stopped taking stray dogs until they had done their statutory 7 days several years ago. Sadly they stopped working with councils, but failed to make this really clear on their many ‘animal rescue’ type programmes that rakes in money for the RSPCA.
Dogs have to be held by the local council for 7 days then they can go off to the RSPCA and other charities for rehoming.
The RSPCA still receives lots of calls about stray dogs because people think that they deal with them, they only deal with the ones in the TV adverts or when there is the possibility of publicity from them dealing with an ‘abandoned’ dog, the rest of the time they are left to the councils to sort out.
The police relinquishment is the achievement of the collective thoughts of a number of organisations (not just the police) who think that replacing a century old system where the police had the infrastructure and work patterns to provide a service can be dealt with ‘where practicable’ by councils who do not really have to do anything if they do not want……nice one, advisors to DEFRA, you really thought that through didn’t you!
[...] in the year warnings were given that a change in stray dog laws could spell an animal welfare crisis as councils pick up full [...]