JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A major part of Florida\u2019s new animal cruelty law is now in effect, but some animal advocates and dog owners said the new system falls short of expectations.<\/p>\n
Known as Dexter\u2019s Law, the legislation creates a statewide database of people convicted of animal abuse. The registry, which officially launched on January 1, is managed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. However, after reviewing the database, some residents say it lacks critical details that would make it truly useful.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Action News Jax accessed the FDLE website and found that the registry currently consists of a single downloadable Excel spreadsheet. The document lists 1,668 individuals convicted of animal abuse, but only includes first and last names.<\/p>\n Many dog owners said that the information is not enough.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, that needs some updating, like I should be able to type in their name, and just like any like Putnam jail log, I can type in somebody\u2019s name. It pulls up their long. I should be able to do that with this,\u201d said dog owner Sarah Otten.<\/p>\n After reviewing the database, several dog owners said they support the intent behind Dexter\u2019s Law, but were surprised by how limited the registry is.<\/p>\n \u201cConsidering I can like go on Putnam jail and find people\u2019s like crimes, you should be able to look on that and find the animal abusers and easily get all of their information,\u201d Otten said.<\/p>\n Dexter\u2019s Law is named after Dexter, a dog found decapitated in Pinellas County. The law strengthens penalties for severe animal abuse and requires the FDLE to publish a statewide registry of convicted animal abusers.<\/p>\n Supporters say the law was driven by a string of disturbing cases across Florida, including a pit bull found tied to a tree and shot, and a Great Dane that was abandoned and left to starve.<\/p>\n However, unlike Florida\u2019s sex offender registry, the new animal cruelty database does not currently include details about the crimes, case numbers, or other identifying information data that is already public through court records.<\/p>\n Local animal shelter officials acknowledge the registry is still developing.<\/p>\n \u201cBut all I\u2019ve seen is that that\u2019s clickable is the spreadsheet that just has first and last names,\u201d said Michael Bricker, Chief of Animal Care and Protective Services.<\/p>\n Despite its limitations, Bricker said the registry is a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I do still think this is a good thing, but I think it\u2019s the first step of hopefully many that makes it into something that is super easy and efficient and usable for Animal Control agencies all across Florida,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Otten echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything about it beautiful, wonderful, I love it. Just the end result needs some workshop.\u201d<\/p>\n Action News Jax reached out to the bill\u2019s sponsor, State Senator Tom Leek, to ask whether the database would be reevaluated or if this was the intended design. No response was received before the story aired.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A major part of Florida\u2019s new animal cruelty law is now in effect, but some…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":488174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[14450,5229,4749,1237,9240,220322,107200,84406,2625,18847,8777,44516,21219,2385,46471,24655,220323,9215,24779,3188,723,220324,10713,14764,6128,220325,24778,18572,7768,210,57470,44523,7310,64463,39777,220326,18851,147123,8146,11260,220327,220328,10823,8148,115894,220329,220330,220331,58469,220332,20047,220333,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,3851,34175],"class_list":{"0":"post-488173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-adult","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-animal","11":"tag-back","12":"tag-background","13":"tag-backside","14":"tag-belgian","15":"tag-bottom","16":"tag-brown","17":"tag-claws","18":"tag-close-up","19":"tag-closeup","20":"tag-cute","21":"tag-day","22":"tag-dirt","23":"tag-dog","24":"tag-doggy","25":"tag-domestic","26":"tag-down","27":"tag-fl","28":"tag-florida","29":"tag-fluffy","30":"tag-foot","31":"tag-funny","32":"tag-fur","33":"tag-furry","34":"tag-grass","35":"tag-ground","36":"tag-hair","37":"tag-health","38":"tag-healthy","39":"tag-isolated","40":"tag-jacksonville","41":"tag-large","42":"tag-leg","43":"tag-lying","44":"tag-mammal","45":"tag-nails","46":"tag-outdoor","47":"tag-outside","48":"tag-pad","49":"tag-paw","50":"tag-pet","51":"tag-protection","52":"tag-puppy","53":"tag-rear","54":"tag-scruffy","55":"tag-sheepdog","56":"tag-shepherd","57":"tag-toes","58":"tag-under","59":"tag-underside","60":"tag-united-states","61":"tag-united-states-of-america","62":"tag-unitedstates","63":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","64":"tag-us","65":"tag-usa","66":"tag-white","67":"tag-young"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}