The SPA and the police sign a partnership to fight against animal abuse

A “historic” agreement.

The SPA signed on Friday with the Central Directorate of Public Security (DCSP), to which all the police stations in France are attached, a partnership to support police officers in the fight against animal abuse, announced Jacques-Charles Fombonne, president of SPA.

Former Gendarmerie Brigadier General, Jacques-Charles Fombonne signed this “innovative” and “historic” partnership with Céline Berthon, Central Director of Public Security.

"The aim of this partnership is to put in place prevention officers who are facilitators of police action", commented Jacques-Charles Fombonne.

“We are going to train police officers in criminal issues of animal protection and in welcoming the public whose animals have been victims of abuse so that people have a privileged interlocutor when they go to a police station”, a- he specified.

Peacekeepers trained from school

This partnership also aims to train peacekeepers in police schools with an 8-hour module on animal protection.

“We are going to train the 3,500 peacekeepers coming out of school this year.

Thus in the police stations, the public concerned will be directed to the young guards who will have done the training, ”he explained.

In France, in 2021, 12,000 offenses involving domestic animals, tamed or held in captivity, were recorded by the police and the gendarmerie, compared to 9,200 in 2016, according to figures from the statistics service of the Ministry of the Interior released last October.

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Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on this occasion the creation of a new service of 15 police and gendarme investigators specializing in the fight against animal abuse and attached to the Central Office for the Fight against Environmental Damage. and public health (Oclaesp).

Increasingly frequent abuse

Attacks on domestic animals - ill-treatment, serious abuse, involuntary attacks on the life and integrity of the animal, abandonment, etc.

- increased by 30% between 2016 and 2021, according to a study by the Interior.

The first animal victims of these attacks are dogs (46%) and cats (24%) and the perpetrators are 73% men, the majority of whom are between 30 and 44 years old.

Ill-treatment (35%) and serious abuse (34%) are the offenses most frequently observed, ahead of involuntary attacks on the life and integrity of the animal (14%).