Hume rangers have had threatening phone calls, emails and letters, been abused during court hearings, and one officer’s name and workplace was made public and her children threatened, after being called out to inspect restricted breed dogs.
In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the effectiveness of Victoria’s restricted dog breed legislation, the dangers for local laws officers were made plain.
Changes were made to the Domestic Animal Act in 2011 that ordered councils to seize and put down unregistered restricted breed dogs.
Since then, the council has received more than 170 tip-offs about unregistered dangerous dogs, and its authorised officers have visited 60 properties to follow-up claims.
Hume’s submission noted that 41 of these properties were considered high-risk, and required police to attend. Two cases required members of the Santiago Taskforce, which was formed in 2008 after a series of non-fatal shootings in the northern suburbs.
It stated that after the council successfully quashed a VCAT appeal from a resident not to have a six-year-old American Staffordshire terrier and bulldog-cross registered as a restricted breed, local laws officers became targets of threats from animal advocates.
Officers received threats via social media, emails, letters and phone calls and were verbally abused while driving council-branded cars. One driver tried running an officer off the road, and another was called a “dog killer” while sitting at traffic lights.
Officers at VCAT hearings have been confronted by supporters of dog owners, and verbally abused. On several occasions, the council has been forced to hire protective service officers to escort council staff to and from their vehicles.
In a letter written by councillor Geoff Porter late in 2012, he requested an urgent meeting with then agriculture minister Peter Walsh to refine the legislation.
The council wants VCAT proceedings to be held in closed court sessions, and the onus of proof to be placed on the dog owner to prove a dog isn’t a restricted breed, rather than the council.
Hume’s parks manager Danny Eaton said the council’s authorised officers deal with restricted breed dogs with total professionalism, “but it has been very stressful for them”.
