Councilmember Wylie proposes Independence Animal Cruelty Task Force to coordinate law enforcement and animal services

Councilmember Wylie on Monday presented a proposal to create an Independence Animal Cruelty Task Force that would bring the Independence Police Department and Independence Animal Control together with local nonprofits and prosecutors to investigate and, where appropriate, support prosecution of animal cruelty and neglect cases.

The proposal calls for a trained response team to handle large-scale cases such as hoarding, neglect and abuse; joint training for officers and animal-control staff; standardized operating protocols and better reporting and data-sharing between agencies; community education; and routine data collection to identify trends and links between animal cruelty, domestic violence and child abuse. Wylie said ordinance updates to create uniform standards of care are already in progress and will be presented to the council in March.

Wylie introduced Cody Atkinson, a representative of the organization formerly called the Humane Society of the United States and…