ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606100024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
ROANOKE COUNTY is finding animal dealings easier now that it has a division in the police unit.
Down at the Roanoke County animal control office, they were talking about a loose goose.
One of the 11 calls Officer Dwayne Cromer had taken in the past two hours was a report that a Canada goose was being generally unfriendly to human visitors at Walrond pond.
"Is there anything about geese in there?'' Cromer asked Sgt. W.B. Swisher, who was thumbing through a policy manual.
"We're not doing geese," Swisher growled. "Geese is a wild animal."
Not long ago, the county didn't have a formal policy on geese, but much has changed in the past two years. In July 1994, the animal control division was merged into the Roanoke County Police Department and given a tough assignment: enforce the controversial new cat ordinance. The ordinance limits county residents to six cats and requires them to buy tags, just as they would for dogs. Animal control officers say they're becoming more professional and more productive under the new system, but county officials also are learning that better enforcement comes with a big price tag.
"Everything is really coming around in this department," said Riley Meador, who's been an animal control officer for 18 months. "We're getting policies and procedures now. I guess in any department in its infancy, you don't have that at first."
Opponents of the merger with the police department feared animal control officers would be pulled from their duties to help with other law enforcement needs.
"We felt like the problems were large enough to have that department entirely separate," said Waine Tomlinson, president of the League for Animal Protection, an animal rights group that operates its own regional shelter in Botetourt County. "We felt that they wouldn't be as accessible."
Although Tomlinson said there are problems, he couldn't give any specifics. He also admitted the old system, in which three animal control officers operated outside the supervision of the police department, was flawed.
"One of them obviously worked, and the other two didn't," he said.
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge proposed the restructuring in 1994, saying he was unhappy with the productivity of two officers. Out of 2,171 calls the animal control division took in 1993, one officer handled 1,205 with the remainder split between the other two.
There's no doubt the three officers now on duty are all busy. They've collected 363 cats and 501 dogs since July, up from 524 animals total the previous year.
"The cat ordinance has really hit us," said Lt. Gary Roche, who oversees the DARE program, traffic, and community services, including animal control.
Even though the amount the county budgeted for shelter fees increased from $15,525 last year to $18,000 this year, actual costs have already reached $26,700, eating into other budget items such as uniform replacement.
For the year beginning July 1, the county has more than doubled its budget for animal shelter fees to $39,000. That's partly a reflection of higher SPCA fees, which will rise this year from $6 per animal per day to $7.75. But it also means the county expects a continued increase in the number of animals being captured.
Vinton Supervisor Harry Nickens has warned all along that the costs would rise when the merger and cat ordinance were implemented.
"By trying to identify an isolated problem, we created another level of government service," he said. "When a government continues to expand a few dollars here and a few dollars there, it's going to add up. Once you add a service, it's most, most difficult to eliminate it."
Although the merger and the cat ordinance are both in their second full year, Roche said, the county is only beginning to experience their impact. Only one of the three animal control officers stayed with the division when it was merged with the police department, and he later transferred out, too. Each new officer required 13 weeks of police academy and animal control training.
"The downtime in just start-up is probably six months," Roche said.
It also has taken time to educate county residents about the cat ordinance. The division has added six traps, bringing its total to 12, since the beginning of the year in response to an increase in requests.
Meador expects the addition of more than just traps in the future, noting that the division's increasing workload has been carefully documented on a department log.
"My feeling is the reason they're having us keep a log is to get more manpower, and it wouldn't hurt," he said. "The more the merrier."
Cost was less a concern when the merger was proposed than a general fear that animal control officers would be pulled away from their duties. The League for Animal Protection is training a member to investigate abuse and neglect complaints, to pick up the perceived slack. The Roanoke Valley SPCA also is training an investigator, although officials there say they are simply filling a position that has been frozen for several months.
County officials don't expect the two investigators to reduce their workload. The animal control division received 1,411 calls in the first four months of 1991, about eight times as many as a police unit in charge of keeping people straight.
"You can tell by the call volume they don't have time for much else," Roche said.
Still, the animal control officers are sometimes asked to perform other functions, including holiday drunken driving checks, traffic, crowd control, backups on domestic calls, parking violations and abandoned vehicle removal. Meadow and Cromer were there directing traffic and setting up cones and flares April 21 when a police chase ended in a crash and three fatalities at Plantation and Williamson roads.
Meador said the helping hands extend in both directions.
"We get along very well with the road cars," he said. "When this first started, they didn't know exactly what we did. Most of the time now they speak up and say 'Well, I'll go ahead and check this out for you.' They really appreciate us when they arrest drunk drivers and they have animals in the car."
Meador, who worked as a road officer in Lexington and Vinton before coming to Roanoke County, admits he didn't plan to make his career in animal control.
"It was a steppingstone to get to the road," he said. "We make a little bit less than the road guys."
But now he says he'll stick with his current job. Injuries from two traffic accidents have made him rethink his plans, but he also says he enjoys what he's doing.
"I love animals," he said. "I'm not much of a cat person. I'm more into dogs."
He's still happy to be part of the police department, however, particularly when speeders whip past his blue-and-white animal control truck.
"I love stopping cars," he admitted. "They blow by you, and the lights go on and they almost do a double-take."
Meador points to the shoulder patch on his navy blue uniform.
"This says Roanoke County Police," he said. "I'm fully empowered to handle anything. If something comes up, I can handle it."
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Roanoke County Animal Control Officerby CNBRiley Meador is on the job in the North Lakes Section of Roanoke
County. color.