Hi Annette!
Your feedback is very helpful!
When I did animal control on the east coast, we did not want to look like police officers because it would have put us in danger, so we wore tees with the state association logo (badge) on the front and large letters on the back that said Animal Control Officer, but also carried a badge. We only wore uniforms when we went to court. (This was in the days before ballistic vests!)
I think that's interesting that your officers have a choice of which uniform they want to wear. I had never thought of that. Our officers also do not carry pepper spray. Our officers are non-sworn and their function is enforcing muni codes like off leash, barking dog, etc. and making sure animals are quarantined. We don't do cruelty cases, that is handled by our police officers. Our community is fairly police friendly. Any time we have a citizen that is getting out of hand, we have sworn officers if needed for backup. Our Captain views our role as being similar to Code Enforcement and Parking Enforcement, and those personnel do not wear traditional uniforms, they wear polos and BDU pants, but do have badges.
Here is my observation with our officers: The ones that want to keep the traditional uniform also bring up the need for a badge and a uniform in order to get "respect" from the public. They tend to have a more authoritarian approach with people, have more conflicts with the public and get more complaints. They are the ones that feel they need to "win" every encounter. The ones that want to go to something more "friendly" tend to take a softer approach with the public, get more compliance, fewer complaints and actually get complements. They tend to problem solve about getting compliance, rather than try to force people to comply. (We always have police officers to back us up if needed.) These are generalities, of course.
We are part of the PD, and their focus is community oriented policing. So we are moving away from a traditional enforcement focused model to one where we are trying to help people with animal issues, whether it's their own animal or an animal in the community (wild or domestic). I think that any good officer can get compliance or help the community regardless of what they are wearing, but the
perception is that the more official uniform is somewhat of a barrier, both physically and psychologically to doing that in an optimal way.
I've only heard back from a few organizations, and it's 6 to one in favor of non-traditional uniforms.
I hope other organizations share their experiences.
Thanks again, Annette!
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Tracy Mohr
Animal Services Manager
City of Chico Animal Services
5308945630
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-06-2021 01:03 PM
From: annette ramirez
Subject: Uniforms
Hi Tracy, I was waiting to respond to see if others shared their opinions but I haven't seen any. We have a traditional Sheriff/CHP type uniform with tan uniform top and green pants. Our officers wear their badge on their chest with a name plate as well. We have an optional "softer uniform" which is a polo and BDU pants. Our vehicles are marked with the City Logo and "Animal Services" below the logo.
We have made the soft uniform optional because some officers feel that it puts their safety in danger as it doesn't clearly identify them as law enforcement without the badge. We have had some incidences of physical assault on our officers one which resulted in a broken collar bone and another where officers were attacked with a fire extinguisher but the uniform being worn is not consistent in these incidences. Our officers do not carry tasers, or pepper spray and we do not have a use of force policy. Some argue that the softer uniform is at fault and others believe it is the traditional uniform at fault as some populations dislike law enforcement.
I would be curious to see the experiences others have had. For now we will continue to offer both options and leave it to the officers discretion.
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Annette G. Ramirez
Assistant General Manager
Los Angeles Animal Services
213-482-9558
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Field Services and Public Safety &
Laws and Public Policy Specialist
Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2021 05:05 PM
From: Tracy Mohr
Subject: Uniforms
My apologies if this has been discussed before, but a search didn't come up with anything.
We are a small municipal shelter and we are part of the Police Department. Our ACO's are non-sworn, and have always worn the same uniform as our Community Service Officers, which is very much like our Police Officers, just a different color: traditional uniform shirt with badge and name plate (vest under the shirt), duty belt with radio, and recently added body cams, and now there is some discussion about adding tasers. The ACO trucks have "Police" written along the side in big letters.
I just had a great conversation with my Police Captain about moving to a polo shirt (with an external vest as needed). He said he was thinking about that as well and he said he would go as far as taking "Police" off the side of the trucks and going to a City logo.
He would like me to do further research on other cities that have made the switch to a non-uniformed model of Animal Control. What type of uniform are you using? Have you noticed a change in how the public responds to your officers, and have there been an issues with your officers not being in uniform?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Please feel free to share examples!
Thanks!
#FieldServicesandPublicSafety*
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Tracy Mohr
Animal Services Manager
City of Chico Animal Services
5308945630
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