The FBI is now tracking animal abuse nationally, and includes incidents in its database to help law enforcement predict and find perpetrators of more severe crimes.
The nation’s top law enforcement agency made the change Jan. 1, but only highlighted the move on its website this week.
Animal cruelty is now an individual category, just like arson, burglary, murder, arson and assault. Until this year, it was lumped into “all other offenses,” despite years of research showing that those who torture and abuse animals often graduate to harming humans.
“Some studies say that cruelty to animals is a precursor to larger crime,” said the FBI’s Nelson Ferry, who works with the National Incident-Based Reporting System. “That’s one of the items that we’re looking at.”
The FBI credited the National Sheriffs’ Association with the move.
“The association for years has cited studies linking animal abuse and other types of crimes — most famously, murders committed by serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the ‘Son of Sam’ killer David Berkowitz,” the FBI wrote in its blog. “The organization also points out the overlap animal abuse has with domestic violence and child abuse.”
“If somebody is harming an animal, there is a good chance they also are hurting a human,” said John Thompson, deputy executive director of the National Sheriffs’ Association. “If we see patterns of animal abuse, the odds are that something else is going on.”
The first animal-cruelty statistics will become public next year, but the FBI warns that it will take three-five years before “helpful patterns” emerge.
