3 Supervisors Seek Inquiry Into Operations of Humane Society

County leaders called Tuesday for an investigation into the police powers wielded by the Ventura County Humane Society and its close working relationship with county government.

Three of five members of the Board of Supervisors questioned the authority given the nonprofit charitable organization that has executed search warrants and raided homes, yet is subject to little public scrutiny.

“If there’s abuse, we need to know about that,” Supervisor Frank Schillo said in an interview. “Any time you give police powers to someone besides a governmental agency, you can run into those kinds of problems. . . . I think mainly the thing is we have to maintain our accountability to the public.”

Some Humane Society members, along with attorneys whose clients were investigated by the organization, are challenging the use of such powers, as well as the society’s financial management.

Humane Society officials dismiss the complaints as the work of animal rights zealots seeking to take over the Ojai-based organization. The debate is expected to dominate a membership meeting Thursday. The group’s leaders could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But Schillo, along with Supervisors John K. Flynn and Judy Mikels, questioned how the group operates, particularly its connection to the county’s own animal regulation agency.

The society works closely with the county to investigate cases of animal cruelty and with the district attorney’s office in prosecuting them.

Prosecutors concede that they have no supervisory role in the group’s operation, yet treat its reports as seriously as any other police agency.

What is more, Kathy Jenks, director of the county Animal Regulation Department, said the government agency relies on the society’s expertise in animal cruelty cases so much that it could simply not do the job alone.

Indeed, Jenks said people routinely mix up the nonprofit Humane Society with the government agency.

That could reflect poorly on county government, Flynn said.

“That kind of distribution of police powers is something to consider, and that’s something I think the grand jury ought to address,” Flynn said. “The grand jury may want to look into the relationship [with the county]. . . . I can see how people can become confused.”

A member of the Ventura County Grand Jury, an independent panel that oversees county government operations, said Tuesday that the group is trying to determine whether it has the authority to review the Humane Society’s operations.

The grand jury has the power to investigate all governmental bodies within the county. But because the Humane Society does not accept county money, it may not be subject to the group’s oversight, said the juror, who declined to give her name.

“We’re trying to find that point out ourselves,” she said.

Jenks said that under state law, the Humane Society has the right to receive $500 a month from the city or county government where it operates. The local Humane Society has never demanded such compensation, she said.

“It may be a way over the years of avoiding regulation and oversight by simply not accepting any taxpayer dollars,” Mikels said. “It unnerves me to think a private nonprofit organization has those kinds of police powers.”

Humane officers operate under the authority of a decades-old state law that gives them responsibility for animal cruelty investigations.

Although the county may not have legal jurisdiction over the group’s activities, it has an ethical responsibility to raise questions, Mikels said.

“Ethically perhaps what the county ought to do is review the law in terms of what are their responsibilities, what is their statutory authority and if, in fact, we find it’s not being exercised properly in our judgment, then we need to go back to the state,” she said.

Schillo, who has been critical of the county’s animal regulation agency, said county staff should take a look at what is going on with the nonprofit group as well.

Ojai Councilwoman Suza Francina, who is also looking into operations of the Humane Society on behalf of several constituents, said the city has no regulatory power over the organization, although its shelter is in the municipality.

“It sounds like some sort of state legislation might be necessary to make this or any other humane society accountable to local officials,” she said. “I’m going to continue my investigation about this matter, and it is entirely possible this will call for a grand jury investigation.”

Restrictions on humane officers were tightened in 1995 in response to a Times series that detailed their wide-ranging powers.

But that legislation may not have gone far enough, Jenks said.

“The statewide system perhaps needs an overhaul,” she said. “I can’t argue that. . . . Clearly, there were some problems and the legislation did not resolve them all.”