Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program Year in Review 2019-2020

Animal Law & Policy Program | Harvard Law School | Year in Review 2019–2020
Chris Green | Executive Director
American Bar Association Resolution on Animal Encounter
Training for Police
After achieving a unanimous vote of approval from the ABA’s
Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Council at the Section
Conference last October, ALPP Executive Director Chris Green
presented the resolution he drafted to the full 600-member ABA
House of Delegates at the Mid-Year Meeting in February. That
Resolution urges all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal
legislative bodies and/or governmental agencies to enact laws
that provide for comprehensive, nonlethal animal encounter
training to law enforcement officers in order to better secure the
safety of such officers, protect public health, and ensure the
humane treatment of the animals encountered. Chris first helped
defeat a motion that this issue was not germane to the mission of
the ABA, and following his presentation the delegates then voted
to adopt the Resolution as the official policy of the American Bar
Association. Providing such training to law enforcement officers
benefits all involved: members of the public, families and their
pets, police officers, the governmental entities they work for, and
the taxpayers or insurance companies who bear the ultimate
financial liability for such fatal mistakes. The mandatory training
law that the State of Texas passed in 2015 has now resulted in a
greater than 90% reduction in the number of dogs shot by police
statewide––from 281 dogs in 2014 to only 17 last year.
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