Police commission watches loose dog videos
Members of the Colby-Abby police commission viewed a couple of short videos Monday from a Colby resident who claims that his neighbors’ dogs are a potential threat to public safety.
The footage from Mike Kreciak’s home security camera shows an unleashed dog mostly staying on its owner’s property, though it does briefly enter the roadway. In one video, the dog goes directly from the house, across the yard and into the owner’s vehicle. In another, the dog goes to the bathroom before being called back.
Police chief Jason Bauer said the videos clearly show that Kreciak’s frequent complaints to the police department are “nitpicky,” and do not warrant law enforcement actions. “I’m not going to write a ticket on that,” Bauer said.
Kreciak, however, says the loose dogs present a safety risk to people passing by. He said one of his videos, which was not played at Monday’s meeting, shows that one of his neighbors’ dogs “went after” a lady and her dog walking by.
“I do not know if the lady or the dog sustained any injuries or nips or scrapes,” he said. “I could not locate the individual, so I don’t know.”
Kreciak said he tried to file a complaint based on the incident but was told he could not do so because he was not the victim in the case.
Based on Kreciak’s description of the dog passing by, commissioner Dan Hederer said it could have been his daughter walking her dog, and if that’s the case, there was no actual attack.
“I know for a fact, if it was her, there was no incident,” he said. “The two dogs kind of played together.”
For years now, Kreciak has been filing complaints about his neighbors’ dogs on Sixth Street running loose, and he has also brought the issue before Colby’s city council and the police commission.
Last year, Kreciak was found guilty of disorderly conduct by a Clark County judge following an incident in the fall of 2019 when he got into an argument with his neighbors, who live directly across the street from him.
Bauer said he’s sick of getting “short little videos” from Kreciak showing his neighbors’ dogs. One thumb drive Kreciak turned in has over 40 videos with little evidentiary value, he noted.
“You do not like your neighbors; that’s what this boils down to,” Bauer said to Kreciak.
Kreciak said he has no problem as long as the dogs stay on their owner’s property, but once they enter the public roadway, they are a potential hazard.
“You should be able to walk down the right-of-way without a dog approaching you, because you can be allergic to them,” he said. “All it takes is a nip or a scrape. You could be defaced or disfigured.”
Kreciak said he was chased by his neighbors’ dogs in 2015 when he went out to his mailbox. If something like that happens again, “we’re going to have a problem,” he said.
“You’re going to be talking to my attorney, OK?” Kreciak said.
Hederer, however, said the videos the commission saw showed that the dog was under the owner’s control through verbal commands.
“It doesn’t have to be on a leash to be under control like that,” he said.
Bauer agreed.
“It can be controlled by voice,” he said.
Kreciak, however, said the dogs don’t always listen to the owner’s commands.
Bauer asked Kreciak not to bring him anymore videos and suggested that he mind his own business.
“I think security cameras should be pointed down and protecting your house, not looking at your damn neighbor’s house,” Bauer said.
Other business
_ Bauer gave the commission an update on the department’s switch to a new incident-based reporting system, which was required by the Wisconsin Department of Justice in order to provide more statistical information to the FBI.
Bauer said the new incident forms require a lot more information to be provided for each incident, so officers are still learning to make sure the forms are completed properly. He said the department had an “error rate” of 20 percent in January when they first started, but that dropped to 12 percent in February.
The goal is to get to a 4 percent or less error rate so the department can be offi cially certified on the new system, but because CAPD officers file a relatively small number of reports per month, the department can have no reports with any missing information, Bauer said.
“We want to get it done in three months,” he said regarding certification.
_ During his monthly chief’s report, Bauer said a couple officers are out on K-9 training this week, and the water pump in the K-9 squad vehicle had to be replaced. He also noted that Marathon County is again offering grants to pay for more traffic stops starting in March.
Bauer said the last couple weeks have been “a little quieter” than normal, but he wondered if it could be the “calm before the mild weather.”
_ The commission approved $29,628 in monthly expenditures.
