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The Derrick

Humane officer: State Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals flouts jurisdiction laws.

By The Associated Press

August 28, 2008

A hearing for Tammy Kerr, who is being sued by an Oil City couple, will be held today.

An animal control officer being sued for taking six kittens from an Oil City couple admits she overstepped her legal authority, but says she was just following orders from her employer, the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The officer, Tammy Kerr, says she has been sent to 27 counties since she was hired for her $17-an-hour job in June. The trouble, Kerr says, is she is not sworn in as a humane police officer to enforce the state’s animal cruelty statute in 20 of them.

A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled today in Venango County Court, and Kerr said she is looking forward to talking about the agency’s policies under oath.

“I’m planning on telling the truth,” she said. “I’m going to sing like a … canary.”

Kerr and former PSPCA officers claim they were routinely forced to take police action outside their jurisdiction. Getting sworn as an officer in a county can take weeks and can cost more than $100.

The PSPCA says the officers are disgruntled employees and ex-employees who blur the clear line between police calls - when officers can seize animals, investigate complaints and obtain search warrants - and “rescue” missions in which officers advise owners about animal care and, sometimes, get owners to voluntarily surrender their pets.

“We never ask our officers to act as officers in counties where they are not sworn in and registered,” Howard Nelson, the PSPCA’s chief executive, said in a statement. “In those counties, they are answering calls as rescue agents, which is legal.”

Kerr said she is not disgruntled and believes such rescue calls are dangerous because she is not supposed to wear her badge, uniform or bulletproof vest. And she noted the distinction Nelson makes between police calls and rescues is blurred because she answers rescue calls in an SUV with strobe lights, a spotlight and “Pennsylvania SPCA Humane Law Enforcement” stenciled on it.

Kerr also believes she is “worthless” without police powers.

“I’m the same as you knocking on your neighbor’s door and saying, ‘Your dog needs water,’” Kerr said.

According to the state Department of Agriculture, there are 140 sworn officers from various humane agencies in Pennsylvania. But 12 counties have just one officer, most of whom cover multiple counties. Ten counties have none.

In the case of the PSPCA, Kerr and two other officers cover a huge swath of the state, spokeswoman Heather Redfern said. The PSPCA only has sworn officers in 30 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties but is working to improve that, Redfern said.

There are no sworn officers from any agency in Venango County, where Kerr confronted James and Janeen Duff about the care of their cats in July. Three days after her first visit, Kerr said the Oil City couple voluntarily surrendered six kittens.

Duffs’ attorney, Robert Martin, sued to get the cats back, saying the couple has emotional issues and therefore felt intimidated after Kerr returned with local police.

Venango County President Judge Oliver J. Lobaugh could decide today whether the couple gets the kittens back. Only three are still alive, Kerr said.

Martin said he wants to curb what he sees as the PSPCA’s abuse of power.

“Unless a district attorney or a private citizen goes after them, they get away with it,” Martin said.

Kerr is not the only PSPCA officer to complain about being forced to go outside her jurisdiction for law enforcement duties.

Rebecca McDonald was a 21-year veteran with jurisdiction in 23 counties when she resigned earlier this month over an on-the-job injury and ethical concerns including assignments outside her jurisdiction.

After Nelson became PSPCA’s CEO less than two years ago, “absolutely, I was in other counties all the time,” McDonald said.

Another former officer has said he was fired for refusing to investigate a puppy mill outside his jurisdiction.

Nelson didn’t return calls for comment beyond the statement he issued Wednesday.

The Allegheny County prosecutor who handles animal cruelty cases said officers who act outside their jurisdictions must take responsibility for their own actions.

“If you’re a regular police officer in Altoona, but I want you to go investigate this case in Erie and show your badge and show your authority, the officer can’t do that,” Jugan said. “The officer has to say to his chief, ‘No’.”

Source: http://www.thederrick.com/stories/08282008-4006.shtml