Keeping Your Staff, Animals, Supplies, and Donations Safe without Making Your Shelter Look Like a Federal Prison

Everyone who works in animal protection will agree:  The weeks and months after Christmas, often filled with people relinquishing thoughtlessly purchased animals, can be hard enough.  But when that depressing phenomenon is compounded by a theft that robs the shelter of the funds it desperately needs to help those very animals, even the New Year looks bleak.

And yet shelters contend with security issues not just during the holidays but year-round, whether the problem is the theft of a donation jar, a break-in to steal fighting dogs, or a fire.  In seeking to protect animals, shelter workers and animal care and control officers are charged with impounding people's "personal property," most often against an "owner's" will.

In figuring out the best methods for securing your organisation, you have to follow the clues.  Here are some steps to help you on your way to becoming a security sleuth.

Start at the Very Beginning: Secure Your Location

Many shelters suffer from what might be called "location problems":  Even if your community as a whole is fairly quiet and crime-free, your shelter may have been built in an area that, for whatever reason, attracts a less desirable element.

While it's certainly worth considering how and why so many municipal animal protection agencies get stuck on property in the veritable "armpit" of the community, you have to work with what you've got.  And part of working with it is knowing it: Understanding the security needs of your agency starts with understanding your community.  Are you rural, suburban, or urban?  What are the income levels in your area?  Read the crime reports in your local paper, and obtain statistics from the police department.  Stay on top of where the community is headed by doing demographic research and talking to local planning and zoning committees; the better your understanding of your community's past problems and future directions, the better prepared you'll be for security problems that may arise.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbours

The old saying that "good fences make good neighbours" is an idea that's easy to take at face value:  If you turn your shelter into a fortress, you'll always have good neighbours, because your impregnable walls won't allow them to be bad ones.   But in fact, the "fences" surrounding a shelter or animal care and control agency have to work on a variety of levels: They must be strong enough to keep out the bad guys, but not so scary that they deter all the animal-loving folks in your community from coming in to adopt animals or make donations.

Just as good "fences" make good neighbours, you may find the converse is also true:  Good neighbours make good fences.

Animal lovers come in all forms, and just as you may be delighted to find that one of your volunteers is a graphic designer or a great plumber, you may find that lurking out there somewhere is a cat lover who just happens to run his own security business.  

Although it doesn't take unfortunate incidents to appeal to supporters for help, a crisis often brings out the best in people.

Get to Know the Men and Women in Blue

Perhaps the community members who can help you most with security issues are those in uniform.  A great way to start understanding what security risks you face is to talk to your local police; law enforcement officers have the knowledge and experience to give you a picture of your community you might otherwise never be privy to.  Some animal protection groups have great working relationships with law enforcement agencies, and they think of those agencies as their first line of defence when it comes to security problems.  Think about it now: Do you know the police officers at the nearest station? Would you hesitate to call them if you needed their advice or help?

If you have concerns about the relationship your organisation has with law enforcement in your area - whether the relationship has been troubled or simply nonexistent - you can get it on track by fostering better communication.  Talk and listen to your police.  Often the best way to do this is by simply walking into the nearest station, introducing yourself, and discussing some of your concerns.  As a way of cultivating good friendships with police, some shelters offer reduced adoption rates to officers.  Other shelters offer free training on rabies prevention and aggressive animal handling, and sponsor general programs designed to help officers understand how the shelter's services complement those provided by the police.

Prevent the Inside Jobs

While knowing local law enforcement officers is a great way to combat security problems, knowing your own staff can help prevent those problems from developing in the first place. Barnoti, who suspects that at least one staff member was involved in the burglary at the SPCA, acknowledges that before the break-in occurred, the shelter was naive about some of its hiring processes.

"One of the things I would advise any humane society is to check the background of anybody they hire," Barnoti says. "[Before the break-in], we never thought of checking for a criminal record. Now we do." After the break-in, Barnoti discovered that one staffer had a substantial criminal record. The mistake the SPCA made, he says, was to check employee backgrounds only after an incident had occurred.

Municipal animal care and control agencies may have an easier time checking the backgrounds of potential employees. Because the hiring process is usually overseen and controlled by local government, city or county personnel departments often perform standard checks on all job candidates. The protocol can include examination of criminal records, drug testing, fingerprinting, and even polygraph tests - and because these are part of the standard operating procedure, potential employees are less likely to take requests for information personally.

But while screening job candidates may be easier for public shelters, private shelters should not neglect this step in the hiring process. A private shelter can use hiring forms to inquire about criminal history, following up on any information provided. Generally speaking, people who don't have anything to hide won't take offense at the questions, especially if you explain why they're being asked - the presence of living creatures and controlled substances makes such background checks a necessity. Your potential employees will understand that you're just trying to ensure a safe working environment for everyone who works in your facility.

Much of what's involved in hiring folks boils down to good instincts, but your guesses have to be educated ones. While it's possible to use your discretion in deciding whether minor criminal incidents and misdemeanours in someone's past automatically disqualify them from working at your organization, keep in mind that some criminal behaviours are linked. If you work in a small, safe town that doesn't have much of a dog fighting problem, it may be OK for you to hire that applicant with an unblemished work history but a decade-old drug violation. But in other cases, you may have to be stricter about your standards. "We've had situations where there have been questionable employee alliances, questionable friendships outside of work," says Asher. "The feeling you get is that someone might be a recreational drug user and have contacts with the pit bull fighting people."

While forgiveness is certainly a virtue, and while some mistakes can probably be dismissed as youthful or past indiscretions, keeping your animals and staff safe is the top priority. If your alarm bells go off, you should probably listen to them. It goes without saying that a person with any sort of violent criminal history should not be employed at an animal protection agency.