Police Do Double Duty: One Murderer, One Dog Abuser

A few years ago here in Chicago, and I suspect in many cities across the Nation, dog abuse was not paid much attention, nor was it always prosecuted.  When it was prosecuted, it only merited a misdemeanor charge and a release.

Chicago had a three-member police team led by Sergeant Brownstein that made it their work to break up the gangbangers who fought dogs, eventually taking custody of the dogs.  He would include the no-kill shelters when seeking a spot for each dog  judged to be a good candidate for adoption. The good sergeant is who I got Tashi from.

I remember Sergeant Brownstein for another reason, too.  He was on a mission to get the City’s police department heads to treat dog abuse as a crime that should be rooted out by every officer, not just by a task force. He was one of the happiest guys I’d ever seen when a psychological profiling study showed that animal abusers also abuse people, and that a good number of serial killers had their roots in animal torture.  Being ahead of the curve can be its own reward, eventually.

I saw this video report and thought, “My, how things have changed!” We can make the mistake of only looking at what still needs to be done, rather than also looking at how far we have come. So I ask you, what changes in animal law have you seen in your neck of the woods over the past few years?  What’s new in animal protection in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, New York and New Jersey and beyond?

(video story no longer available)

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