ABA midyear meeting. Pet Protection

• Author: Amanda Robert
• Pages: 65-65

ABA Insider | ABA MIDYEAR MEETING

ABA MIDYEAR MEETING

Pet

Protection

ABA House supports

animal encounter training

for law enforcement

BY AMANDA ROBERT

The importance of providing

police ofcers with compre-

hensive animal encounter

training was addressed in a

measure approved by the ABA House of

Delegates.

Resolution 103A encourages the

use of laws and policies that provide

training on the amount of force that is

reasonably necessary during encounters

with family pets and other animals to

protect both ofcers and the public, re-

duce potential legal liability and ensure

the animals are treated humanely.

In the majority of U.S. police

departments, the lion’s share of shots

red by ofcers are directed at animals,

most often dogs, according to a De-

partment of Justice study cited in the

report accompanying the resolution.

Also noted in that report was a study

saying nearly 75% of police department

shooting incidents in Milwaukee over

one 33-month period involved shots

red at dogs.

Chris Green, the executive director

of the Animal Law & Policy Program

at Harvard Law School and the former

chair of the Tort Trial and Insurance

Practice Section’s Animal Law Commit-

tee, spoke in favor of the resolution. He

said shootings of animals increase the

risk of police ofcers accidentally shoot-

ing innocent bystanders, as well as the

legal liability for governments that may

need to settle with victims’ families.

“When things go wrong, the physi-

cal, emotional, legal and nancial con-

sequences can be catastrophic,” he said.

Green added that when states such

as Texas and cities such as Chicago

promoted nonlethal animal encounter

training programs, they signicantly

reduced unnecessary accidents involving

police ofcers and animals.

Chuck Stertz, an assistant district

attorney in Outagamie County, Wiscon-

sin, and a State Bar of Wisconsin del-

egate, made a motion to postpone the

resolution indenitely. He contended

the issue was not germane, saying that

the House would be “taking away from

the power of the American Bar Associa-

tion” if it approved the resolution.

“We have very serious issues to ad-

dress as leaders of our profession, and

we need to focus on those issues,” Stertz

said. “Every time we pass a resolution

that doesn’t go to our core mission, we

are watering down that message.”

Grant Killoran, a State Bar of Wis-

consin delegate and a shareholder at

O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong &

Laing in Milwaukee, joined Stertz in his

proposal to postpone the resolution.

“People who don’t like us cite this

sort of resolution and therefore dilute

the rest of the unbelievable things we

do to defend the rule of law,” he said.

Stephen Saltzburg, a delegate from

the Criminal Justice Section and a

professor at the George Washington

University Law School in Washington,

D.C., opposed Stertz’s motion to post-

pone the resolution. He argued that the

ABA is in the position to protect animal

welfare in the country and throughout

the world.

On a personal note, Saltzburg re-

called the time his Rhodesian ridgeback

dog stood between him and a brown

bear in his backyard.

“I inched; my dog didn’t,” he said.

“My wife and I love that dog, and we

share the love of pets that so many of

you share. Don’t tell me it’s not part of

our core mission.”

Daina Bray, co-chair of the Inter-

national Law Section’s International

Animal Law Committee and a member

of the TIPS Council, also spoke against

postponing the resolution. Like Saltz-

burg, she pointed out that the topic of

the resolution was a serious issue and

falls within the mission of the ABA.

Bray, general counsel of Los Ange-

les-based Mercy for Animals, added

that not only are there two animal law

committees at the ABA, but there are

animal law courses in more than 160

U.S. and Canadian law schools.

“I want to say to you that animal

law is a real area of legal activity that is

here to stay, and it does have a home in

our association,” she said.

The motion to postpone the reso-

lution indenitely was defeated after

a standing vote. The resolution was

then approved.

Resolution 103A builds on the ABA

Criminal Justice Standards on Urban

Police Function that were approved

by the House of Delegates in February

1979 and focused on limiting the exces-

sive or unnecessary use of force by law

enforcement.

The resolution was co-sponsored by

the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice

Section and Criminal Justice Section. Q

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