Chief assigns patrolwoman as township humane law enforcement officer
In January, on the last day of former Governor Chris Christie’s final term, one of the 150 pieces of legislation he dealt with was the stripping of power from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA).
A report issued by the State Commission on Investigation in October 2017 states the NJSPCA faced many accusations of lack of responsiveness to complaints of animal cruelty. The report also states the NJSPCA was stripped of 501(c)-(3) status by the Internal Revenue Service for failing to submit tax forms for three years. The report states, “It soon became clear to Commission investigators that these allegations were merely a snapshot of a much broader array of dysfunction within the SPCA system, particularly at the NJSPCA…”.
The legislation signed by Christie transfers the power of humane law enforcement from the NJSPCA to animal cruelty task forces in each county appointed by the county prosecutor. Each municipality is required to appoint at least one humane law enforcement officer who is to enforce the animality cruelty laws of the state and ordinances in a municipality. At the request of Mantua Township Chief of Police Darren White, the Mantua Township committee approved current patrolwoman Krista Shields to serve as the township humane law enforcement officer.
