In recent weeks, City residents and animal activists have been claiming that they've been attempting to get ahold of the City's Animal Control Officer, Fred Lamke, to no avail. This morning, at the City of Harrisburg's Public Safety briefing, they brought their concerns about animal neglect and the Thompson Administration's policies to the attention of Police Chief Pierre Ritter, who was not inclined to take the questions. The tensions climaxed as the media began to inquire about the citizens' assertions.

Rather than address the issues as public safety, Chief Ritter claimed not to have the data and then abruptly ended the press conference leaving the scene to acting-Communications Director Bob Philbin. Philbin acknowledged there seemed to be a particular problem in the past day in regard to reaching the Animal Control Officer, but declared, "Normally, this process occurs regularly without incident."

He would not address the accusation that the Police Chief has issued a directive to officers not to respond to animal complaints.

Per Philbin, the contract between the Thompson Administration and the local Humane Society is up to date and there are no outstanding bills that he is aware of. The contract states that the Humane Society will accept 100 pit bulls a year from the City of Harrisburg. However, Philbin was not able to report the current number of pit bulls already delivered to the Humane Society. This morning, a pit bull was shot and killed by a Harrisburg Police Officer in Reservoir Park after it allegedly attacked two citizens and charged at police.

Videos:

Police Chief Ritter ends the press conference: "Plenty of data from the citizens who say they call repeatedly to the City Dog Control Officer and there's no response."

Acting-Communications Director Philbin takes over: "The breakdown is somewhere in the phone system."

by Tara Leo Auchey

photos by Natalie Cake