Designates dog control officers of the city of Utica as peace officers for purposes of enforcing certain provisions of the agriculture and markets law

Title of bill

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to designating as peace officers dog control officers of the city of Utica

Purpose

To provide for improved and more efficient enforcement of laws regarding animal cruelty and the licensing, identification and control of dogs in the city of Utica.

Summary of provisions

This bill would add a new Subdivision 83 to Section 2.10 of the Criminal Procedure law to designate dog control officers in the City of Utica as peace officers. The bill also specifies that nothing in this new subdivision shall be deemed to authorize such officer to carry, possess, repair or dispose of a firearm unless the appropriate license therefore has been issued pursuant to section 400.00 of the penal law.

Existing law

Laws have been enacted at the request of various local municipalities to have their dog control officers designated as peace officers.

Justification

In their regular course of business, dog control officers may encounter violations of New York State laws which prohibit cruelty to animals. However, these public servants do not currently have the authority to issue appearance tickets, serve summons or make arrests for such violations. This situation has hindered the enforcement of these laws, which are intended to help protect animals.

Dog control officers are currently authorized by State law to issue appearance tickets or serve a summons for violations involving Article 7 of the Agriculture and Markets Law, which relates to the licensing identification and control of dogs. However, they do not have similar authority in regard to violations of Article 26 of the Agriculture and Markets Law, which includes several provisions that prohibit cruelty to animals.

For these types of violations and crimes, municipalities must rely either on local police or on the efforts of local societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA). Officers or agents of an SPCA are already designated in State law as peace officers, and they may enforce Article 26 of the Agriculture and Markets Law.

However, these two options are of limited benefit in the City of Utica. First, the police department is faced with many enforcement issues and is limited in the resources it can devote to these types of crimes. Second, while SPCAS are able to help enforce the laws in several parts of the State, this is not an option in Oneida County, as there is no local SPCA.

This bill recognizes that it would be much more effective and efficient to enable dog control officers in the City of Utica to enforce these laws directly. This would be consistent with laws that were recently enacted at the request of three communities to provide similar peace officer designation for their dog control officers.

Like all peace officers, these dog control officers would have to fulfill special training requirements and would have to operate in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law. Furthermore, this bill specifies that peace officer status does not, in and of itself, give these officers the right to carry firearms.

Legislative history

S.2617/A.524 - Codes Committee

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

Immediate.