Barking time at crux of concerns with dog law revisions
Although a handful of residents turned up at last Friday’s Town Board meeting to cite their opposition to the revisions of the dog law, the Town Board Tuesday agreed they will put the proposal to a vote at their Nov. 1 meeting, inserting two words.
Those words are “at least” and pertain to the provision that says for any action to be taken, whether it’s a warning or summons, a police officer or animal control officer has to hear that barking for “at least” 10 minutes continuously.
Residents who had spoken Friday wanted the 10 minutes expanded to 30 minutes, but Town Attorney Bob DeStefano Jr. pointed out to the Board Tuesday that 10 minutes was the minimum time a police officer or animal control officer had to hear the dog barking.
“We love animals, obviously,” Councilman Jim Colligan said at Tuesday’s work session. But a law has to have a fixed time to enable it to be enforceable by the judicial system.
“We are not here to fine or incarcerate” people, the councilman said.
Mr. DeStefano said he understands the issue raised Friday about potential abuse from a neighbor who either doesn’t like dogs or has a beef with a dog owner.
Councilman Paul Shepherd told his colleagues he doesn’t like the “three-strike rule that would provide that a dog could be seized if there were three or more violations within a 30-day period.
Ultimately, Mr. Shepherd said he’s not sure whether he can support the proposed revisions when the Town Board is due to vote on them at the Nov. 1 meeting.
“I don’t like the thought of people getting chewed on” by officials who someday may replace current Police Chief Jim Read or Animal Control Officer Beau Payne.
Police Chief Jim Read made it clear that the new law was basically incorporating practices that have long been in place by his officers and animal control officers.
The proposed law covers 10 minutes of continuous barking or 15 minutes or more during a half-hour period. But judges have said that police policy is insufficient for courts to enforce with penalties. They need actual times written into the law. Town Attorney Bob DeStefano Jr. said there are provisions in the existing dog law that fail to comply with New York State law and that had to be rectified. A municipality may enact stricter limits than the state allows, but cannot loosen state provisions.
There were accusations that the proposed law was revised to deal with a single resident, something town officials have previously denied. That case was resolved in court and provisions in the proposed law were not put in for any single situation, Chief Read said.
“Most laws aren’t written for 95% of people; they’re written for 5%,” the chief said.
“We’re asking you to go back to the drawing board,” Maria Caccese said.
She called the proposed changes “punitive,” and said the town needs to look at what other municipalities on the East End are doing.
But Mr. DeStefano said many of those towns have laws that would be unenforceable for their failure to set specific time limits and he predicted they would fail in their efforts in court to enforce those laws. Instead, he said, he turned to the New York State law in crafting the revisions for Shelter Island.
“I think it’s bad government,” Ms. Caccese said, calling it “police state law.” The phrase was picked up by others who agreed with her characterization of the revisions.
“You’re going to see no change in how we do business,” Chief Read said. “We don’t have any interest in writing dog tickets,” he said. The aim of police is to bring about compliance.
The time should be increased,” resident Eric Springer said. His concerns are with those who may not like dogs or have an antagonistic relationship with a neighbor who owns one or more dogs.
“I think you guys really, really should rethink this,” he said.
Bruce Saul said the revisions hold everyone accountable for the actions of one person.
“This law seems onerous,” Mr. Saul said. It represents the “urbanization of Shelter Island,” he said.
He talked about the way the director of the North Fork Animal Welfare League, Gillian Wood Pultz, successfully handles barking dog situations, taking time to work with owners whose dogs are habitual barkers. Ms. Wood Pultz runs shelters in both Southold Town and Riverhead.
Such procedures are already in practice on the Island, Mr. DeStefano said. The law is about what happens when all else fails, he said.
While the speakers all agreed that Chief Read and Animal Control Officer Beau Payne are reasonable men who have not taken a heavy-handed approach to enforcement, they worry that future officials in those positions would look to the letter of the law and not take the same attitude of using warnings and offering assistance before issuing summonses.
There appeared to be a general consensus that the 10-minute provision should be at least 30 minutes of continuous barking.
But resident Craig Wood said it’s important to recognize that most complainers have put up with barking for an extended period before finally calling police who then show up, perhaps 10 minutes later and have to start their own timing, meaning the barking had already gone on far longer than what would be reasonable.
