Q. In 2016 the FBI announced they were tracking animal cruelty. It's been one year. Do they have any of the data compiled? And what crimes does this cover? Henry, Naples
On January 1, 2016, the Bureau’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) began collecting detailed data from participating law enforcement agencies on acts of animal cruelty, including gross neglect, torture, organized abuse, and sexual abuse. Before this year, crimes that involved animals were lumped into an “All Other Offenses” category in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s annual Crime in the United States report, a survey of crime data provided by about 18,000 city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies.
The connection between animal abuse and domestic abuse is well-known and well-studied. The FBI has recognized the connection since the 1970s, when its analysis of the lives of serial killers suggested that most had killed or tortured animals as children. Other research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of other forms of violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse and elder abuse.
A. Holly Morris, a spokeswoman with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia explains.
“The Animal Cruelty collection pertains to the following categories:
Simple/Gross Neglect
Intentional Abuse and Torture
Organized Abuse (Dog Fighting and Cock Fighting)
Animal Sexual Abuse
The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has the raw data processed as it pertains to the Animal Cruelty offense for 2016; however, this data is not yet in a format that can be released. There are several data quality and analysis processes of the initial collection numbers that must be completed before any release of the data can be made. Over the course of the next several months, the FBI UCR Program's personnel will analyze the data and will prepare a press release for the first year of the collection. At this time, no timeframe has been established for the release of the information.
All states have some form of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program in place. Florida happens to be a Summary Reporting State (SRS) and since the Animal Cruelty collection is only under the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) the FBI will not receive any data from the state of Florida regarding Animal Cruelty incidents.
Currently, there are 16 States that are all NIBRS reporting and 18 others that are in a hybrid category whereby they send the FBI both NIBRS and SRS data. The key point to know however is that even if a state is full NIBRS or even partial NIBRS that does not mean that they have upgraded their computer systems to collect and or send animal cruelty data to the FBI.
The FBI does not track the state or local agency programs update status since UCR reporting is a voluntary program. However, since the FBI has implemented a new UCR system and there is a push for all state and local agencies to report NIBRS data; the FBI is requiring all agencies reporting NIBRS to be compliant to the current technical specification document which includes the collection of animal cruelty data by January of 2021. If the agency is not compliant, the FBI will not accept the state or local agencies UCR data starting in January 2021.”
Full NIBRS States:
1. Idaho
2. Montana
3. North Dakota
4. South Dakota
5. Colorado
6. Iowa
7. Arkansas
8. Kentucky
9. Tennessee
10. West Virginia
11. Virginia
12. South Carolina
13. Vermont
14. Delaware
15. New Hampshire
16. Michigan
Hybrid States:
1. Washington
2. Oregon
3. Utah
4. Arizona
5. Minnesota
6. Wisconsin
7. Nebraska
8. Kansas
9. Oklahoma
10. Texas
11. Missouri
12. Louisiana
13. Ohio
14. Pennsylvania
15. Maine
16. Massachusetts
17. Rhode Island
18. Connecticut
Cruelty Facts:
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that nearly 1 million animals a year are abused or
killed in connection with domestic violence.
• Animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to
commit property crimes than individuals without a history of animal abuse.
• Up to 75 percent of domestic violence victims report that their partners threatened or killed family pets.
• A survey of the 50 largest U.S. shelters for battered women found that 85 percent of women and 63 percent of children
entering shelters discussed incidents of pet abuse in the family.
• Children living in an abusive home regularly turn to animal abuse and later in life, human abuse.
Update:
*Henry was as shocked as I was to learn that Florida is not included in this important data. Every day there is an animal cruelty crime being reported in the media somewhere in our State. I am further investigating and will have an update soon.
Q. We saw a crew filming a few months ago, on Marco Island. Any idea what it is for? Linda, Marco Island
A. That was HGTV’s crew filming for their weekly reality show, ‘Island Life,’ where ‘tropical dreamers’ will be shown island properties that fit into any budget, from ultra-affordable to totally outrageous. The show follows everyday families in search of their own slice of paradise, and prove that fantasy can be a reality.
Chelsey Riemann a spokeswoman for HGTV in Knoxville, Tennessee tells us the filming wrapped in November and will not air until April 2017.
Q. We read in one of your columns where the busiest intersections in Collier County are located. Where are they in the city of Naples? We think we know where #1 is. Alan Hicks, Naples
A. If you picked 5th Avenue South and 9th Street South (also known as Four corners) you are correct according to David Rivera, with the city of Naples streets and traffic department. Rivera suggests we all avoid this intersection from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tied for 2nd, Golden Gate Parkway/US 41 and Golden Gate Parkway/Goodlette-Frank Road respectively. Rivera says the best times to avoid these intersections are from 7:45 am - 9:00 am and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Now that we are in season it seems every intersection should be on the list!
Timely Tidbit – Many of you have emailed complaining about all the construction occurring in the city of Naples.
Construction activity is allowed as follows:
Nonresidential areas - Monday - Saturday, 6:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Residential areas - Monday - Saturday, 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Construction activity is NOT allowed on the following holidays:
Christmas Day
Fourth of July
Labor Day
Memorial Day
Thanksgiving Day
New Year’s Day
If you’d like to file a complaint, you can contact Code Enforcement 213-5030.
© 2017 Naples Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.