Limited resources only part of the story

In response

By Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson

, Feb 11, 2010 (13 Reader comments)

Courtesy of Columbia County Animal Control / The South County Spotlight

DANDER DOG - This male pit bull was one of two dogs that attacked a calf last summer in Scappoose.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Upon, reading the editorial last week in the Spotlight (“Resource deficit is real villain in pit bull case”), one might conclude that the Sheriff's Office put forth no effort to investigate the occurrence of dogfighting in our county. The assumption might be that limited resources have kept us from pursuing this case, but that assumption would not be completely factual. We took numerous steps to bring criminal charges to bear in this case.

It is true that our reduced numbers have seriously impacted our ability to respond to criminal situations countywide, but it is not true that our response is to do nothing. Our goal continues to be to put forth the best effort possible to conserve the peace in Columbia County with the resources we have been given.

On July 3, at approximately 14:40 hours, 911 dispatch received a call from a cell phone reporting two pit bull dogs attacking a cow calf in a field at the address of 50776 Dike Rd., Scappoose. A deputy from the sheriff's office arrived about 20 minutes later and secured the dogs with the help of a citizen. Columbia County Animal Control arrived shortly afterward and advised that some of the equipment found at the site was consistent with the breeding and training of dogs for dog fighting.

Also discovered at the scene were a number of marijuana plants found growing on the property and clearly associated with the residence where the animal control officer located the purported dogfighting paraphernalia.

In our effort to provide the most efficient means to investigate criminal offenses in our county, a decision was made to have the animal control office provide the information necessary to secure probable cause to make an arrest in the animal control case. A sheriff’s deputy took charge of the investigation of the controlled substance manufacturing portion of the case.

In conference with the animal control office, we learned that while the equipment found at the scene was consistent with that used to train dogs for fighting, the equipment there was not exclusively for that purpose. In other words, a possible defense to the presence of the equipment was that it was there for legitimate purposes.

1 | 2 Next Page >>