NYSHA Partners with NYS DCJS to Expand Workshop Reach</h1
Great news! NYSHA is now partnering with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) to promote the goal of educating as many law enforcement-related individuals as possible on the animal cruelty laws of the state. In the past, DCJS had posted notices of NYSHA’s Animal Cruelty Investigation workshops on its training schedules, but now, as a result of the new joint venture, notices for the workshops are sent out across the state via e-pages (comparable to an email blast) to all criminal justice-related entities, from police departments to probation/parole to the staff of the NYS Attorney General’s Office. Individuals who want to attend simply sign up on the DCJS website. As a result of the e-page notices going out in the spring for the Yonker’s workshop, we had a great attendance. And, also in the spring, though the Essex County workshop took place in a rural upstate area, we received an excellent turnout for that as well.
The Yonkers workshop led off our spring training calendar. We partnered with the Yonkers Police Department and held the workshop at the Grinton I.Will Library in Yonkers which had a spacious auditorium that accommodated the large turnout. In addition to our roster of NYSHA speakers, we were fortunate to have Senior ADA Mary Ann Liebowitz from the Westchester County DA’s Office as our expert on the topic of creating a winning case for court.
Essex County Sheriff’s Office co-sponsored our next workshop, held in their department training room in Lewis, NY. Numerous law enforcement personnel from as far away as Syracuse attended the workshop and provided us with excellent evaluations. We were fortunate to have ADA Brian Felton from the Essex County DA’s Office do a presentation on how he wanted an animal cruelty case optimally handled in Essex County.
We were most pleased to see attendees from the NYS Attorney General’s Office at both the Yonkers and Essex workshops. The Attorney General has launched an animal protective initiative to address animal crimes linked to puppy mills, organized dog fighting, and illegal production of items made from protected animal species, such as elephants. These crimes will be investigated. The attendees from the Attorney General’s Office were pleased with the instruction they received and believed it provided them with a good foundation to support the Attorney General’s initiative.
A sampling of evals from the two workshops included such comments as “I’ve heard of animal abuse, but I can’t believe the extent of it,” from a probation officer, and “I’ve learned a lot of good techniques and the relevant animal statute,” from a police officer.
We are in the process of scheduling the fall workshops, so please check the NYSHA website— periodically for times and locations.
What you can do:
- Encourage your local law enforcement personnel to attend if you see the workshop is being held in a nearby area.
- Please continue to support NYSHA’s work to help animals.
New York State Humane Association Humane Review, Vol.XXVII, No.1, Spring/Summer 2013.