Dog attacks not a crime, but owners will pay

Cincinnati's new dog law was approved 8-0 Wednesday but with a change – it won't be a city crime if a dog injures someone.

That means if a dog bites someone, even several times, the dog owner won't be charged with a crime, but might face increased fines. There was concern by Mayor John Cranley and Council Member Kevin Flynn that a city law that made such an incident a crime would be difficult to enforce.

P.G. Sittenfeld left the meeting earlier and did not vote.

If, both said Wednesday, such an incident happens and is bad enough, existing state laws can be used to prosecute criminally.

The new law could mean owners of biting dogs could face up to a $15,000 fine.

Law and Public Safety Committee members Christopher Smitherman, Yvette Simpson and Kevin Flynn voted last week to increase civil fines for dog attacks, create an animal task force and require the owners of vicious dogs to get insurance.

Councilman Charlie Winburn abstained.

Over-the-Rhine resident Britt Born rescued her pit bull Massy in 2012 and she told the Council committee Monday exactly what she thought: Breed-specific laws would hurt good owners and do nothing to penalize the bad ones.

"Today's outcome is the best we could have hoped for," Born said. "No one wants their neighbors or children to have to go through a dog attack. But a ban on a specific breed, or legislation that targets a specific breed, is not the answer."

The committee shot down Cranley's suggestion that pit bull owners be required to get special collars for their dogs.

Nationwide, from 2005 to the end of 2014, pit bulls killed 203 people in America and accounted for 62 percent of the 326 recorded deaths from dog attacks, according to the website DogsBite.org, a nonprofit that says it puts people's safety first. Combined, the website found, pit bulls and rottweilers accounted for 74 percent of these deaths.

In Ohio, 79 cities ban, restrict or specifically designate pit bills as "vicious."

Locally, Golf Manor, Amberley Village, Fairfield and Elmwood Place ban pit bulls.

Fort Thomas Mayor Mary H. Brown last year refused to lift that city's ban on the breed, which has been in place since 1988.

Cincinnati has twice banned the breed. A registry for pit bulls from 1999 to 2003 failed, with only 11 people total registering their pit bills.

In 2012, Council found the ban was keeping people from living in the city, and in an 8-1 vote, lifted it.

Under Cincinnati's current dog law, which will remain in place, the second time a dog attacks a person, the owner can be charged with a misdemeanor crime. Additional criminal penalties were discussed as part of the changes, but abandoned.

"Since August, Councilman Smitherman and I have been working on a way to solve the problem and make our streets safe in a way that actually works and is not just reactionary to make people feel good," Seelbach said. "This is not my perfect answer. I support criminal penalties, but I was willing to compromise. There is no silver bullet to preventing dog bites."

Flynn also contributed to the plan.

Under Cranley's proposal, pit bull owners would have been required to get a special collar for their dogs. The cost: $50. Police would have had the power to confiscate pit bulls without collars if a resident complained about the dog or if the dog intimidated a person.

Five citizens spoke at the committee meeting, all against special collars.

Intern Jessica Frank contributed research. Community Press reporter Chris Mayhew contributed.

This story has been updated from an previous version that incorrectly listed Norwood and Sharonville as having pit bull bans.