FBI to start tracking animal cruelty in 2016

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bluesneakers

bluesneakers

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FBI to start tracking animal cruelty in 2016


The FBI will begin tracking cases of animal cruelty nationally in 2016, a move advocates hope will bring more attention to the crime among law enforcement agencies and underscore the link between animal abuse and other violent crimes.
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“There was no way to find out how often it occurs, where it occurs, and whether it was on the increase,” said Mary Lou Randour, senior adviser for animal cruelty programs and training at the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. “Empirical data is important. It’s going to give us information about animal cruelty crime so we can plan better about intervention and prevention.”

Ms. Randour and others say tracking animal cruelty cases is especially important because research has shown that violence against animals can be an early indicator that a person will be violent toward humans, and that animal abuse often occurs alongside other crimes such as domestic violence
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Starting in January, the FBI says, police departments will be required to report animal-related crimes to the national database. The FBI will categorize them as a “crime against society.”
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Good.
 
Another link

Dr. Martha Smith-Blackmore, a forensic veterinarian who studies animal abuse cases, said she hopes better numbers will help experts analyze the backgrounds and patterns of animal abusers.

"When I started seeing cases of animal cruelty, I realized that these animals are stuck in the same dysfunctional families and suffering from the same ills as the people stuck in these households," she said.

...

"I hope that [the new data] us going to bring to light some associations of who animal abusers are, what their backgrounds are, what they go on to do," she said.

Thompson, a former police chief of Mount Rainier in Prince George's County and a former Prince George's assistant sheriff, says he has become convinced that law enforcement needs to pay attention to animal crimes as a potential link to other crimes.

"This is a community problem," he said.
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-fbi-animal-cruelty-20151126-story.html
 
This is a good idea - confident the FBI will find a correlation to other crimes when they track this. Hope the reporting will be accurate and sincere in order to compile the data needed.
 
Animal abuse and starting fires have always been red flags for sociopathy. I hope the perps are punished, not merely tracked. Abusing animals demonstrates the lack of empathy for another sentient being, so it's not a great leap to realize that humans may also be at risk. Why we think we are such a superior species, making the abuse of humans a far greater crime I'll never know.
 
Next step: Make failure to report animal abuse a crime? Make it a crime to know animal abuse is going to occur & not notify law enforcement?
 
bwt42 said:
Next step: Make failure to report animal abuse a crime? Make it a crime to know animal abuse is going to occur & not notify law enforcement?
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How could you prove someone knew and didn't report it? Maybe make it so veterinarians have to report it, like we do with teachers and doctors with child abuse?
 
Ray_of_hope said:
Animal abuse and starting fires have always been red flags for sociopathy. I hope the perps are punished, not merely tracked. Abusing animals demonstrates the lack of empathy for another sentient being, so it's not a great leap to realize that humans may also be at risk. Why we think we are such a superior species, making the abuse of humans a far greater crime I'll never know.
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I don't know either. It would shut down a lot of factory farms and puppy mills if we did though.
 
bluesneakers said:
I don't know either. It would shut down a lot of factory farms and puppy mills if we did though.
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Yes! If the concern was really about animal welfare, it would include people who abuse animals for profit.
 
bluesneakers said:
How could you prove someone knew and didn't report it? Maybe make it so veterinarians have to report it, like we do with teachers and doctors with child abuse?
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Joey Meeks is being prosecuted because the feds claim he knew of the SC church shooters plans & did not report it. Also people know dog fights & *advertiser censored* fights are occurring & could be arrested.
 
I would agree that animal torture most likely correlates to other crimes that show a lack of empathy. But animal abuse is too vague a term for me to draw any conclusions.
 
I see little difference between cruelty to animals and to humans so I think the punishment should be pretty much the same.
 
bluesneakers said:
How could you prove someone knew and didn't report it? Maybe make it so veterinarians have to report it, like we do with teachers and doctors with child abuse?
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If they lived in the same household it should be easy to prove. If a dog is chained up and starving in the backyard and the other 5 people that live there full time claim "It ain't my dog, I don't gotta feed it" then that should be a crime.

The vast majority of abused animals will never see the inside of a veterinarian's office so that won't work.

I find it very sad that people often say animal abuse should be taken seriously because it might lead to crimes against humans, that demeans the true victims of the crime.
 
Animal abuse tracking and charging should be a local law enforcement issue, IMO. Definitely local, not federal. I don't condone any intentional animal abuse, and I do agree that animal torture often is a symptom of other crimes and cruelty. We can be alert to that, even track it locally, without making a new "department" within a federal government law enforcement agency.

The FBI has enough other very serious criminal activities to monitor and handle, without adding in something like this. (What's next-- an FBI department to monitor littering and jay walking??)

I'm definitely concerned about what the definition of "abuse" would be at the federal level. That should concern every one of us, because there are unintended consequences for humans that many reactionary animal lovers may not have considered.

While I'm an animal friend, and I like animals in general, never do I consider animals to be equals to humans, or that animals should have rights that humans have.

That's a very slippery slope that a definition of "abuse" and "torture" could be manipulated and twisted to include things like valid genetic research, development of scientific large animal testing models, etc. But then, that's often the goal of animal rights activists.

Incidents will be divided into four categories: neglect; intentional abuse and torture; organized abuse such as dog fighting and *advertiser censored* fighting; and animal sexual abuse.
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http://www.post-gazette.com/news/na...g-animal-cruelty-in-2016/stories/201511280093

Regardless, I don't agree that this should be an area of responsibility of the FBI. Another example of bloating of programs and services, and mission "creep". JMO.
 
K_Z said:
Animal abuse tracking and charging should be a local law enforcement issue, IMO. Definitely local, not federal. I don't condone any intentional animal abuse, and I do agree that animal torture often is a symptom of other crimes and cruelty. We can be alert to that, even track it locally, without making a new "department" within a federal government law enforcement agency.

The FBI has enough other very serious criminal activities to monitor and handle, without adding in something like this. (What's next-- an FBI department to monitor littering and jay walking??)

I'm definitely concerned about what the definition of "abuse" would be at the federal level. That should concern every one of us, because there are unintended consequences for humans that many reactionary animal lovers may not have considered.

While I'm an animal friend, and I like animals in general, never do I consider animals to be equals to humans, or that animals should have rights that humans have.

That's a very slippery slope that a definition of "abuse" and "torture" could be manipulated and twisted to include things like valid genetic research, development of scientific large animal testing models, etc. But then, that's often the goal of animal rights activists.



http://www.post-gazette.com/news/na...g-animal-cruelty-in-2016/stories/201511280093

Regardless, I don't agree that this should be an area of responsibility of the FBI. Another example of bloating of programs and services, and mission "creep". JMO.
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bbm Absolutely, this is so silly to have fbi in this. jmo
 
Wouldn't the money being used for this project be better spent tracking terrorists and/or stopping ILLEGAL immigrants?
 
The FBI is reclassifying it from 'other' to the four specific categories. So the FBI has already been recording these as crimes. Now it will be recorded as animal abuse, I guess so that researchers can track it and repeat offenders can be identified. I don't think this means it will actually be handled by the FBI. Having individual cases of animal abuse filed by only local agencies would be pointless.
 
I hope this is the start of harsher punishment for those that abuse animals. They need a voice just as much as children and the elderly.
Shame that some view them as lesser beings put on this earth to be of use and of no matter. IMO
 
Trident said:
Wouldn't the money being used for this project be better spent tracking terrorists and/or stopping ILLEGAL immigrants?
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I'm more concerned with people who torture animals than with people who work in restaurants without proper documentation, in terms of threat to society. But, MOO.
 
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