NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2806
SPONSOR: Lavine TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to adding
certain animal fighting conduct as a designated offense for an eaves-
dropping or video surveillance warrant
PURPOSE:
This legislation would define animal fighting as a designated offense
that qualifies for an electronic eavesdropping or video surveillance
warrant.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. This bill amends criminal procedure law section 700.05 subdi-
vision 8 to include section 351 of the agriculture and markets law as a
designated offense for an eavesdropping or video surveillance warrant.
JUSTIFICATION:
Animal fighting fuels some of the most violent enterprises which corrupt
our neighborhoods. Apart from the well-established social science link
between violence against animals and violence against people, the New
York law enforcement community has seen first-hand that vigorous inves-
tigation and prosecution of animal fighting exposes gang networks,
narcotics rings, weapons trafficking activity, and other sophisticated
and violent criminal enterprises.
Animal fighting is the pitting of two dogs against each other for amuse-
ment or gain. It can also be the pitting of a dog against another type
of animal (even a human). While money need not be exchanged to qualify
the act as illegal, there is indeed a significant financial machine
behind this disgusting "blood sport." According to some estimates,
dogfighting is a billion-dollar underground economy - just in the United
States. Some studies put the United States' share of this enterprise at
a full third of the global dogfighting economy. Money is not only made
by abhorrent wagers on the outcomes of fights, but also through the
illicit breeding, marketing, trading, and sale of dogs. Professional
fighters will market the bloodlines of their winners, make money off of
forced breeding sessions (whether successful or not), and sell litters
as fast as they can be produced. The underground industry is such that,
besides the fighters, there are individuals who specialize as "promo-
ters" of fights, as breeders, as trainers, and as sellers. Because the
activity must go undetected, there is also a strong subversive demand
for medications, specialized equipment, veterinary services, and "dark
web" communication platforms (unregistered Internet sites, invisible to
public view). Another awful truth of this already-atrocious enterprise
is that fighters will sometimes steal animals from their surrounding
community - small dogs or cats - to use for bait or training for their
kennels.
This is not a distant problem. It is happening in virtually every corner
of the state. As law enforcement has grown more attuned to its
detection, fighting rings have been targeted and brought down, and,
along with those rings, law enforcement has seized guns and heroin,
uncovered domestic abuse and child abuse, and rescued countless dogs
from a lifetime of torture.
However, the methodologies of detection are still lacking - for no
justifiable purpose besides oversight. Despite being an inherently
"social" activity (i.e. more than one defendant must be involved),
animal fighting is currently not eligible for a warrant to conduct elec-
tronic surveillance. This bill would place animal fighting on a list of
crimes eligible to seek a warrant to conduct electronic eavesdropping.
By including animal fighting as an eligible offense, law enforcement and
prosecutors will gain valuable tools in combating this heinous category
of crime.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Died in Codes 2016.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2806
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to adding
certain animal fighting conduct as a designated offense for an eaves-
dropping or video surveillance warrant
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 700.05 of the criminal procedure
2 law is amended by adding a new paragraph (v) to read as follows:
3 (v) Any of the acts designated as felonies in section three hundred
4 fifty-one of the agriculture and markets law.
5 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05508-01-7
