Information from AG.NY.gov — Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced that his office has obtained an order to shut down the Yonkers SPCA after it was found to be giving peace officer status to more than a dozen individuals, allowing them to carry guns without providing any service to the community.
Attorney General Cuomo’s Office obtained an order permanently shutting down the Yonkers Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The services it was supposed to provide have actually been carried out by the SPCA of Westchester for decades. The order, the result of a lawsuit filed in 2009, also requires that all members with peace officer status turn over their firearms, shields and identification cards.
The order also forwards any remaining assets of the Yonkers SPCA to a legitimate organization that prevents animal abuse.
“The individuals behind the Yonkers SPCA took advantage of a nationally renowned non-profit to masquerade as a law enforcement entity with no responsibilities or oversight,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Since this organization provides no service to the community, we have shut it down.”
Yonkers SPCA, headquartered at 976 McLean Avenue in Yonkers, was incorporated in 1912 but has not conducted any operations in decades. The SPCA of Westchester expanded its territory to include Yonkers and has provided and continues to provide prevention of cruelty to animal services to the city. The newly reconstituted Yonkers SPCA conducted no law enforcement activities.
Nevertheless, the organization conferred peace officer status to at least 16 members over the past three years, essentially allowing them to carry guns with peace officer status while not doing any activities relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals. By comparison, the SPCA of Westchester conducts all such enforcement across the county and has only two peace officers.
Peace officer status grants people the power to make warrantless arrests, use deadly physical force in making an arrest, conduct warrantless searches whenever such searches are constitutionally permissible, and to seize firearms.
In July 2009, the Attorney General’s Office, in its role as overseer of non-profit organizations in New York State, intervened and obtained a temporary restraining order barring the Yonkers SPCA from appointing or reappointing peace officer status for any members. The court has now issued an order dissolving the Yonkers SPCA.
For more information, go to AG.NY.gov.
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