New Part-time Superior Police Officer Angela Gill is taking on a dual role as Town Dog Catcher and Code Enforcement.
Officer Gill has been working in law enforcement in Arizona for two years, and she has been with the Superior Police Department as a reserve for eight months. On Aug. 1, she was promoted to a part-time officer. Her main job is patrolling, but she is now also in charge of the town animal control and code enforcement programs. Officer Gill has spent much of August in training for these new positions.
The Superior Police Department took over code enforcement in December of 2015. Officer Gill says that she is “working the code enforcements in sectors. Almost like a clock, I’m working my way around the Town.” Officer Gill will go around, and if she sees any violations, she will take pictures and send out a letter to the violators. In the past, there have been some issues with people saying they never received the violation letters. To address the issue, the Department now scans a copy of each letter before it gets sent out.
The property owners have 30 days to correct the issues. Gill says after she sends out the letter she will drive by and check the location two weeks later. If she sees that no progress has been made, she will tag the violation in red in her spreadsheet. If someone is working to correct the issues, Gill will give them more time, but if they haven’t done anything to alleviate the issue in 30 days the violator will get a citation. Every 30 days the process restarts, which means, in theory, property owners can collect multiple citations on the same code violation issue.
For many years Superior has relied on Pinal County Animal Control to deal with animal issues, but now the town has Officer Gill. She will be working in accordance with, and alongside of, Pinal County Animal Control. Since it has been so long since the Town has used the town kennels, Gill says, “There is a lot of stuff that needs to be done before we are legally allowed to start using them again. They have to be safe for the dogs and right now they aren’t.”
When a stray is found Gill does not have a chip reader, but she tries to find the owner. When she does find the owner, she will issue a citation if the animal doesn’t have its tags and vaccinations.
Besides the conditions of the kennels, the challenge, Gill says, is that she only works 20 hours a week. She stated, “You can’t leave the animals in the kennels unsupervised.” She will have to transport the animals to Florence and from there they are transported to Pinal County Animal Control.
Since the Town of Superior is under the restrictions of Pinal County Animal Control, every dog in town needs to be licensed, registered and vaccinated through Pinal Country. Officer Gill says if a dog gets out and it doesn’t have tags, “Pinal County will not release the animal until they have licensed and vaccinated the animal, so if they want their dog back they will have to, on the spot, pay to have it vaccinated, or the animal will not be released to them.”
According to Town Hall, the contract the town has with Pinal Country calls for twice a year dog round ups and twice a year vaccinations and license clinics in town. The last clinic was held in Superior in April, and the next one has yet to be scheduled.
Article by Cat Brown