James Nash

State House bureau, @j

The organization responsible for enforcing New Jersey laws against animal cruelty is staffed by "wannabe cops" who neglect their mission while enforcing unrelated traffic laws, a state investigation has found.

Investigators for the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took more than a month to look into a complaint regarding two Yorkshire terrier puppies covered in motor oil and fleas, yet agents found time to conduct traffic stops, according to the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation.

The society took an average of 12 days to respond to reports of animal cruelty, the commission said in a report.



The organization also took on the trappings of law enforcement — vehicles with police lights and advanced software, gun-toting officers and body cameras — while losing sight of animal care, the report asserted. In 2014, the society spent more on ammunition than on vaccinations and hospitalizations for pets, according to the report.



In a written response, society President Steve Shatkin said the State Commission of Investigation sensationalized its findings without making a good-faith effort to understand the society or its work.



For example, state investigators slammed the society's "wannabe cops" without ever spending time in the field with one, Shatkin's statement said.

SPCA officials on Friday said since Jan. 1, 2015, the agency has issued 1,230 summonses for animal cruelty and none for traffic laws.

The society, which reported $663,000 in annual revenue in its most recent public tax filing, incurred more than $775,000 in legal bills over the past five years, the commission found. The organization has been embroiled in legal battles with local chapters over their charters, as well a dispute over whether the state organization was subject to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.

SPCA officials also on Friday released a 2015 tax filling that shows $681,267 in revenue for that calendar year.

The nonprofit's longtime lawyer, Harry Jay Levin of Levin Cyphers in Toms River, bills $475 an hour for litigation-related matters, according to the report, which is more than double the average rate for state agencies paying outside lawyers. The commission called Levin's rate "exorbitant."

Levin, in a written response, said many legal specialists working for the state charge more than he does. In any case, he said, state investigators never asked to review billing files to determine the propriety of payments.

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The commission report on Friday also said that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has not reformed itself since a 2000 commission report that found extensive waste and abuse. The 2000 report also identified a "wannabe cop" culture in the society's Bergen County chapter, which subsequently filtered through the entire organization in New Jersey, the commission said.

The state watchdog agency recommended that the society be stripped of authority to enforce animal-cruelty laws, with local police taking responsibility. New York City and the state of Delaware have already turned over authority on animal-cruelty laws to their police, the report said.

"The NJSPCA — as constituted and governed, then and now — is and has been a dysfunctional organization," the Commission of Investigation said in its report. "It has engaged in and tolerated waste and abuse, conflicts of interest and self-aggrandizement, and has routinely taken a cavalier approach to financial and operational accountability — all at the expense of unwitting donors and volunteers whose only motivation is to help animals."

In his statement, Shatkin said the Commission of Investigation has been "obsessed" with the animal-welfare group while overlooking abuses of taxpayer dollars. He said local police have shown no interest in enforcing animal-welfare laws. State officials have formally recommended the change three times since 2000 with no follow-through due to resistance from local police, he said.

"Is the NJSPCA perfect? Absolutely not," Shatkin said. "Is there corruption and misuse of power at the NJSPCA? Unequivocally not."

The society collects money from donations and fines, rather than tax dollars. It employs about 55 investigators statewide, including about 20 who are authorized to carry firearms.