Spe­cif­ic po­lice of­fi­cers will be soon as­signed to crack down and charge pet own­ers who ill-treat, aban­don, ne­glect and abuse an­i­mals.

The of­fi­cers will soon be hand-picked by Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith, who held a re­cent meet­ing with an­i­mal ac­tivists, in­clud­ing Nali­ni Di­al and Marie To­vah-Fla­ment, who for years have been call­ing on the au­thor­i­ties to crack down on cru­el an­i­mal own­ers across the coun­try.

Yes­ter­day, Grif­fith, an an­i­mal lover and own­er of four rot­tweil­er dogs, con­firmed to Guardian Me­dia that he would as­sign “spe­cif­ic of­fi­cers in each di­vi­sion” to ac­com­pa­ny an­i­mal ac­tivists to the homes or busi­ness­es of pet own­ers or in­di­vid­u­als who in­flict pain or suf­fer­ing to an an­i­mal.

Grif­fith said the ac­tivists had com­plained that when they ap­proach an own­er or per­son who ill­treats an an­i­mal they would face abuse or be chased. He said the ac­tivists al­so ex­pressed dis­plea­sure that when they re­port­ed the ill-treat­ment to the po­lice, they did not see it as im­por­tant.

“I see it as be­ing im­por­tant,” Grif­fith said.

Grif­fith said there are al­so laws to deal with such un­car­ing in­di­vid­u­als.

“If per­sons are break­ing the law, it is our oblig­a­tion to en­force the laws. This is some­thing that is long over­due.”

By speak­ing out, Grif­fith said he hoped this would trig­ger an­i­mal own­ers to think twice be­fore they act. In the com­ing days, he said he would again meet with the ac­tivists to in­form them of his next move.

Grif­fith said he could not form a ded­i­cat­ed cru­el­ty unit in the TT Po­lice Ser­vice to deal with abu­sive own­ers, but will man­date spe­cif­ic of­fi­cers to work along­side the ac­tivists, who would vis­it lo­ca­tions where an­i­mals are be­ing ill-treat­ed.

These “hand­ful of of­fi­cers,” Grif­fith said, would have to do their reg­u­lar polic­ing du­ties al­so.

“Per­sons are go­ing to be aware that there are con­se­quences to their ac­tions be­cause the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice will be tak­ing a more rig­or­ous ap­proach to deal with per­sons who abuse an­i­mals,” he said.

Grif­fith said for an own­er to in­flict harm or tor­ture any an­i­mal was “to­tal­ly un­ac­cept­able.”

“There are dogs that are un­fed. There are dogs who are hurt. There would be chains on the necks of dogs that would be chok­ing them. That is ba­sic cru­el­ty we have seen here.”

Un­der the Sum­ma­ry Of­fences act of 1921 Sec­tion 79 (1), any per­son who cru­el­ly beats, ill-treats, starves, over­drives, over­rides, over­loads, abus­es, tor­tures or oth­er­wise mal­treats any an­i­mal is li­able to a fine of $400.

Grif­fith said he will soon hold a me­dia con­fer­ence to ex­plain “every­thing in de­tail” to the pub­lic. He said if own­ers do not have the time, love and com­mit­ment to look af­ter an an­i­mal, es­pe­cial­ly dogs and cats, they should hand them over to a shel­ter who can put them up for adop­tion.

Di­al said for ten years she has been plead­ing with the po­lice to work with an­i­mals ac­tivists but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

“No po­lice com­mis­sion­er ever gave us at­ten­tion. Grif­fith is the first. We want to pub­licly thank Grif­fith for his in­ter­ven­tion,” Di­al said.

She said al­most half the pop­u­la­tion were dog own­ers alone.

—SH