Dog officers accused of lurking

Kate Bourke received a Council Infringement notice for having her dog off the lead. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Dog control officers are hiding in bushes and lurking in cars in a covert surveillance tactic to gather more fines, dog owners claim.

The owners say the fines - which can be for infringements including failure to keep a dog under control and failing to remove faeces - have become about "revenue collecting".

However, the Auckland Council said yesterday there was no incentive for dog control officers to issue a quota of tickets and the officers were not allowed to hide in bushes.

Kate Burke, who lives in Pt Chevalier, said she had written to Auckland Mayor Len Brown criticising Animal Control Services, a company contracted by the council to enforce city-wide dog bylaws.

"There is a strongly held and widespread view in the community that responsible dog owners are being targeted as a source of revenue collection," she wrote.

The animal control officers were often unprofessional, dishonest and aggressive, and were just revenue-collecting, she said. Dog owner Sean Curham said he had seen an animal officer crouched in a bush at a park. "He was tucked out of sight. He was away from his van and was deliberately out of sight."

Mr Curham said, in general, officers acted inappropriately, often bordering on entrapment.

Several dog owners surveyed by the Herald at the Meola Reef Park said they had experienced rude officers or officers lurking in patrol vans around central Auckland parks.

Krista Johnson, owner of Barkley Manor, has about 700 dog owners coming through her dog daycare, training and grooming centre every week. Her customers had told her stories of the occasional officer hiding in bushes and waiting in carparks.

"I've heard it intermittently and it's always the same park and the same story around one time." She had not heard any complaints recently and said a trend of tickets was often an overzealous individual rather than the animal services as a whole.

Council compliance manager Max Wilde denied dog officers were unprofessional or that they unfairly target dog owners. The council was not aware of officers waiting in bushes or vans before issuing tickets. They were not allowed to wait in bushes.

"ACSL provide animal management services for the council and as directed by the council. ACSL does not have financial incentives linked to infringements and does not have quotas or targets."

The mayor's office sent a letter to Ms Burke, dated Friday June 24, that said that a council customer satisfaction survey showed comments about the animal management inspectors were overwhelmingly positive.

Ms Burke's letter followed an incident in February when she was fined $1800 after walking her dog unleashed across a Meola Reef Park path.

The Westmere coastal park is a popular spot for dog walkers. Dogs are allowed to run free within the grassy park area, but legally have to be on a leash along the entry walkway and in the carpark.

On the day of the ticket, Ms Burke was leading her dog Mozart, unleashed, back to her car. After noticing an officer writing while sitting in a marked car, Ms Burke asked whether she was getting a ticket.

"[The officer said] 'I'm catching up on my paperwork, but now you have interrupted me, maybe now I will'."

Ms Burke received a ticket for $1800 in the mail - $300 for a dog off-leash, $750 for wilful obstruction and $750 for failure to supply details.

Auckland Council has since reduced the off-leash dog and the wilful obstruction fine back to warnings.

Ms Burke said she would fight the $750 ticket for failure to supply details in court, saying: "There's still some dispute around what actually went down."