Officer will now respond to animal calls

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The 2018 state law abolishing the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and requiring county and local law enforcement agencies to enforce cruelty laws has been taken a step further by the Bloomfield Division of Public Safety.

The current law requires all municipalities to appoint at least one municipal humane law enforcement officer with the power “to enforce, investigate, and sign complaints concerning any violation of the animal cruelty laws of the state or ordinances of the municipality.”
But now humane law5 enforcement Officer Nick Laratta, in addition to his legally required duties, will respond to calls about animal concerns by residents of Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Nutley and Caldwell, as the towns share services.

An example occurred several months ago during a spell of hot weather.
“During the summer time, a Nutley resident’s dog was missing for 10 days and they believed it was in a heavily wooded area near their house,” Laratta said in a recent interview. “Myself and our other two animal control officers searched the wooded area and we found the dog hiding in heavy brush and reunited it with the owner. The resident was in tears.”

Duties such as this are outside the scope of state law. But according to Anthony DeZenzo, the director of support services within the Bloomfield Division of Public Safety, which oversees the animal shelter, the township has taken the law “above and beyond.”

“We’re invested in the welfare of animals,” DeZenzo said recently. “Nick investigates all animal concerns and not just cruelty. Bloomfield has enhanced the law to provide a better service and embrace the community perspective of helping people with their animal concerns and complaints. And Nick brings a lot to the table.”

Laratta, who grew up on Broughton Avenue and is a Bloomfield High School graduate in the Class of 1992, has been a Bloomfield police officer for 22 years. Following state mandated coursework, he received his certification as a humane law enforcement officer, or HLEO, in 2015 and was appointed Oct. 2018. He is officially with the Community Police Division, assigned to the animal shelter, Monday to Friday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Laratta said there have been almost 900 calls this year regarding animal concerns in the four towns he covers. This is an increase by about one-third since last year, with Bloomfield and Nutley residents calling the most often.

Most of the calls are for injured wildlife, including squirrels and birds. And if an injured animal needs to be transported for medical attention, the Bloomfield Animal Shelter has a state-of-the-art animal control transportation vehicle with compartments providing air conditioning for the animals and, in the event a large dog is involved, a winch to get them on board. Injured animals are taken to Franklin Lakes Animal Hospital, Woodlands Wildlife Refuge or the Raptor Trust in Morris County. And although removing a raccoon from an attic or dealing with nuisance animals is not within an HLEO’s job description, all calls are treated in a polite and forthright manner.

“The selection of Officer Laratta to the position of municipal humane law enforcement officer is grounded in his ability to deal with complaints of animal cruelty and neglect in a professional and compassionate manner,” DeZenzo said.

“We take these complaints seriously to investigate any incidents of abuse or neglect,” Laratta said, “and provide proper medical care to any orphaned or injured wildlife.”

The Bloomfield animal control officers are Henry Escobar and Melissa Johnson and the shelter, located at 61 Bukowski Place, is open to the public Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 2 to 5 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m.

The shelter will also accept allow Bloomfield residents to surrender animals pets they can longer keep, a service most other municipalities do not provide, DeZenzo said.

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