The state's Department of Agriculture is establishing a new two-week training and certification program to help standardize and improve the quality of local animal control services.
According to a report today in the Hartford Courant, the new initiative falls under a law recently passed by the state legislature that seeks to make the role of the local animal control officer more uniform across the state.
While most towns have a local ACO, either through their own police department or in some type of regional program, the jobs and functions of local ACOs can vary widely from town to town. Larger towns and cities, for instance, run their animal control facility under the auspices of the police department while smaller communities may operate their animal pound through a first selectman's or mayor's office.
Under the "animal control officer's training act," ACOs will have to go through a two-week certification program and will require that they continue to have at least six hours of continued education each year.
