It's hard to imagine the mindset of someone who would harm a pet.
But in his successful urging of his colleagues to launch an animal abuse registry that could function much like a registry for those convicted of sexual abuse (except that it would include those cruel to animals), Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner stressed how individuals who have the will to hurt animals are extremely likely to cause harm to humans as well.
“When we talk about pets, it's like talking about our families. And while most pet owners are responsible and love their pets, we also know that there are individuals who do not and cause great harm to their pets," he said.
The commission voted 5—1 Wednesday to explore setting up an animal abuser database that would include those convicted of such crimes.
The idea of someone willingly harming animals is deeply horrific, but the penalties don't often match the crime. While an animal cruelty registry might not exactly wipe out such acts, it may at least deter them and keep offenders on law enforcement's radar.
Beckner said such a program may also help protect humans from similar abuses.
Helping to further that point Wednesday was longtime Hillsborough area veterinarian Betsy Coville, who said the connection between animal abuse—meaning neglect, physical harm, mental harm, hoarding and other behaviors—and bad treatment of humans is very real.
After all, there's a shockingly high statistical correlation between such behavior and other heinous acts, like school shootings, serial killing, domestic battery and sexual abuse.
“Animal abuse can also be a predictor or an indicator of other forms of violence, such as sexual abuse, elder, spousal and/or child abuse. Dogfighting has always been connected with firearms, drugs, gambling and gangs, with children frequently present," she said. “Professionals in law enforcement and social services have come together to recognize that cruelty to animals can be a steppingstone to future violent behavior against humans.”
According to at least two studies she cited, nearly nine out of ten women with pets who reported domestic abuse also reported that the abuser also caused harm to a family pet. Such animal cruelty was also reported in three-quarters of child abuse cases where there was a family pet at home in another study. The correlation likely exists, Coville said, because those who commit spousal or child abuse tend to target pets in order to manipulate human victims in the household.
“The human-animal bond can be exploited by abusers by targeting the family pet," she said. "Why do they target the animals? Because they can and they're convenient to demonstrate power and control over the family, to isolate the victim and the children, and keep the violence a secret, to prevent the victims from leaving out of fear for the pet left behind.”
And knowing who is hurting animals could go a long way in preventing further harm.
“With knowledge of the link between animal and human violence, the coordinated efforts of social services, law enforcement and animal control officers can intervene and break the cycle of aggression," Coville said. "This is where establishment of an animal abuse registry can enhance public safety and not only prevent animal abuse, but also help prevent human violence.”
Beckner and his colleagues, save for Commissioner Stacy White, who voted no, and Commissioner Victor Crist, who was absent, passed the measure.
White said he was concerned with the level of bureaucracy the measure would create as well as how the county could prevent abusers from buying animals from outside the county.
“I'm not trying to pick a fight with you or create any theatrics here, but I think that the proposal for us today is bad public policy. I know where you're trying to get, and I very much want to be a part of getting there,” White told Beckner, with whom he tends to disagree.
Beckner said many of the details with which White was concerned would be hammered out during the process of developing the nascent policy, just as has happened in places like New York's Suffolk, Nassau and Albany Counties as well as the State of Tennessee.
White argued that such policies ought to be implemented at the state level.
Beckner said nobody disagrees that it should be a state-level policy and reminded his colleagues that the state legislature is not exactly well-known for jumping on good policies these days.
“I'm starting to sound like a broken record up here, because this is the thing that we continue to address with pill mills, PIP insurance fraud, Internet cafes, wage theft, any sort of those types of issues that have a dramatic impact in our community would be best addressed statewide," he said. "But there's a failure in the legislature. There's a failure to get things done there. And the failure in the legislature means that we have to act locally in our community...We have a duty and an obligation to act when the legislature refuses to act.”
White, who said he is a pharmacist, took issue with the mention of pill mills, which Hillsborough cracked down on in early 2011, ahead of state efforts to do the same.
“I can tell you as a practicing pharmacist [the Commission's efforts] had absolutely zero impact," White said. "It is indeed the subsequent state actions that have had tremendous impact...I think it's sloppy at best to try to piecemeal this together county by county.”
Actually, Beckner said, law enforcement officials would disagree with that.
“I would suggest you check with law enforcement on those statistics, because I keep up on that," he said. "And if it were not for our local action you would still have people dying of prescription drug overdoses in this community. And to see that cleaned up because we took action is something that we as a commission should be proud of because if we waited for state action, how many more people would have died? We have a responsibility as local government to act when the state will not.”
County staff will now draw up a proposal that would come back before the commission for a final vote.
“This is the first step,” Beckner said. “We have an awful lot of work to do.”