Albany

The same people who abuse their girlfriends and boyfriends often abuse pets — and reporting that cruelty can safeguard both humans and animals from the attackers, experts said Wednesday.

"You got to take a pause in these cases to dig a little deeper to figure out if somebody with psychotic issues in one regard might have psychotic issues in another regard," Jed Painter, an assistant district attorney from Nassau County and one of the state's leading authorities on the prosecution of animal crimes. "You don't want to be the one to miss that warning sign."

Painter was among the experts speaking at the event, titled "The Connection Between Domestic Violence And Animal Cruelty," which drew local prosecutors, police and City Court Judge Rachel Kretser, who emceed the event as chair of the 3rd Judicial District's Gender Fairness Committee.

Painter said he believes animal cruelty laws are still "woefully enforced" but sees improvement.

Christine Mott, past president of the New York City Bar Association's Animal Law Committee, noted that animal cruelty alone can serve as the basis for a domestic violence petition and order of protection — and that the animals themselves can be protected by such orders. If abusers violate an order of protection involving pets, they face the same consequences as with any other order of protection, according to literature distributed at the event.

Animal cruelty can be made legally admissible as a "prior bad act" in domestic violence cases, the literature said.

"It is a proven link that individuals that are hurting your animals, hurting your pets, beheading your pets, it's only going to lead to worse things, physical things, with your family," Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said, calling domestic violence and animal cruelty "two of the more under-reported crimes."

Other speakers included District Attorney David Soares; Albany Police Deputy Chief Robert Sears; Alicia Borns, director of the Bureau of Family and Victim Resources for the state Office of Prevention of Domestic Violence; Brad Shear, director of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society and Libby Post, executive director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation.

rgavin@timesunion.com • 518-434-2403 • @RobertGavinTU