Mendocino County Grand Jury
• 2013-2014
• Agency Response
6.1 Animal Control Confidentially Violations*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 4 findings
F1
community that the unethical practice of releasing of complainant's names has occurred." I (we) disagree wholly with this finding. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office does not have any independent evidence to support this statement. "There is strong circumstantial evidence to support allegations that complainant
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
confidentiality of complainant's names" This recommendation has been implemented. The Animal Control Officers have begun to conduct an annual review of the Animal Control operating policy as it relates to confidentiality of reporting persons and the Animal Control Officer Code of Ethics. "The public telephone numbers for handling Animal Control issues be corrected in
F2
names were leaked by Animal Control Officers thereby violating the Animal Control Code of Ethics." I (we) disagree wholly with this finding. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office does not have any independent evidence to support this statement. "Breach of confidentiality by Animal Control Officers compromises the
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
directories and on web pages." This recommendation has not been implemented, but will be implemented in the future. Attempts will be made to update the Lake & Mendocino Counties published telephone book to show the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office as being the agency responsible for the Animal Control services within the incorporation areas of the county. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office website (www.mendocinosheriff.com) will also be updated to have its own Animal Control section, which will outline the service areas and contact telephone numbers for the public. ANIMAL CONTROL CONFIDENTIALITY VIOLATIONS June 9, 2014
F3
effectiveness of Animal Control and discourages future citizen complaints." I (we) agree with this finding. The investigation of Animal Control issues are often complex and time consuming for Animal Control Officers. Animal Control Officers often rely upon members of the public to provide information to help them identify situations of animal abuse and neglect. Animal Control Officers understand the identities of these individuals need to be kept confidential wherever possible to prevent them from being harassed or retaliated against. "The telephone number for handling loose and stray animals is that of Animal Care
No recommendations for this finding
F4
rather than Animal Control." I (we) partially disagree with this finding. A search of the governmental pages in the November 2013/2014 Lake & Mendocino Counties published telephone book shows no listing for Animal Control under the County of Mendocino section. The Animal Care Services section of the County of Mendocino website identifies the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office as being the agency that provides Animal Control services in the unincorporated areas of the county and lists the telephone number for the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office dispatch center as being 707- 463-4086.
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.