VALDOSTA — Animal cruelty is happening all throughout the state and country without being recognized or prosecuted.

That’s why the Valdosta Police Department teamed with Animal Law Source to train state and local law enforcement officers on investigating crimes against animals at the city annex building Wednesday.

Chief Brian Childress invited ALS to give a training session on cases involving animal cruelty and dog fighting, and how animal control and law enforcement officers should handle case preparation and court room presentations.

For the past three years, ALS has trained officers on animal cruelty laws. Jessica Rock, founding partner with ALS, said police aren’t trained to recognize animal cruelty and, for specific circumstances, don’t know what power they have under the law.

Most of the time, Rock said, police simply call animal control to handle a situation, but animal control can’t make arrests.

“That’s why it’s important in those situations for animal control and police to communicate and that the police understand that it is their job to get involved in these types of instances,” Rock said. “We want to make sure people are held responsible, and that’s why we do what we do.”

She said it is important for police to understand how many different crimes animal cruelty is connected to. Animal cruelty is linked to a whole list of other crimes, including domestic violence, elder abuse and child abuse, Rock said.

Kevin Hearst, DeKalb County animal control officer, was one of the speakers during the training session. He tried to educate officers on what to be on the look out for and what steps they can take to resolve the problem, through prosecution or other means.

“The big thing is to save Fluffy,” Hearst said. “You have to go about that in the right way, because if you do it incorrectly, the owner or suspect will get Fluffy back and continue to abuse it.”

In the future, Paige Dukes, Lowndes County clerk, said the county plans on sending as many of its law enforcement officers to the yearly ALS symposium held in Atlanta.

“It’s important for our officers to stay up-to-date on new laws regarding animals,” Dukes said.

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256