Brute Force: Policing Animal Cruelty

Brute Force looks at people having the most contact with everyday animal abuse: humane law enforcement officers who are charged with enforcing anti-cruelty statutes. The author spent one year studying 30 "animal cops" and dispatchers in two large cities. They see themselves as a power for the helpless, a voice for the mute. On-the-job experience changes this view. Rather than "fighting the good fight" against egregious cases of cruelty, they are overwhelmed with complaints that are ambiguou...