Criminology Commons^™

Proposal For An Animal Crimes Unit Within The Milwaukee Police Department, Caroline Knitter

Professional Projects

The incidence of animal abuse continues to rise in communities across this nation. The range of animal abuse crimes includes starvation and neglect, dog fighting, sexual abuse to malicious killing. Research indicates that crime against or involving animals often leads to crime against humans, interpersonal violence. Many animal abuse crimes go unreported, and the human victims involved are unidentified. Overburdened with crimes against humans, many police departments do not have the resources available to focus on animal abuse. To address this issue, animal crimes units are being initiated in police departments in some major cities. The purpose ofthis research study …