Is it just me or has the city gone to the dogs?

While the mayor and board of aldermen were considering a new ordinance for the city books, another kind of dog went missing from a local food establishment.

Burglars evidently stole one of Fat Mama’s Tamales landscape sculptures Sunday night. The iron sculpture of a bright yellow dog with red polka dots used to sit between the restaurant’s patio and parking lot. Since the Fat Mama’s opened their new store on Canal Street, the dog and many of the other sculptures scattered around the tamale hut have become a popular attraction.

This is a much less serious crime compared to the other offenses Natchez police officers deal with each day. Fights, drugs and shootings have become all too common for our region.

Meanwhile the mayor and aldermen voted a couple of block’s away Tuesday night to develop an ordinance that addresses problems with pit bulls and other vicious animals.

The aldermen reacted to an impassioned plea from a West Stiers Lane resident who fears that pit bulls in his neighborhood may one day attack area children, senior citizens and people in general.

Earlier this month the death of 5-year old Terry resident Anastasia Bingham from a pit bull attack spurred the Jackson City Council into action. It seems they too are considering laws banning pit bulls and other breeds.

What happened in Terry is truly tragic and if something like that happened in Natchez it would indeed be terrible.

But does Natchez need a whole new set of laws to enforce?

Surely there are existing laws on the books that law enforcement can use in situations involving pit bulls and other dogs.

Why is that whenever something tragic happens, elected officials instinctively reach for their pen to write another set of laws without considering the effect that such laws will have on an already limited law enforcement?

Current Natchez laws already pass without enforcement.

Parking tickets downtown are rarely seen even though drivers consistently violate no loading zones and time limits. Able-bodied drivers consistently fill handicapped spaces throughout town, leaving the disabled to fight for the closest parking spaces they can find.

Who can blame a Natchez Police Department that is understaffed and underpaid for not enforcing these laws already on the books? They have bigger issues to address and more dangerous criminals to pursue.

If police do not have the time or resources to enforce parking laws, how are they going to enforce a new vicious animal ordinance? Will they end up spending time ordinarily spent chasing criminals answering calls from neighbors who cannot tell the difference between a boxer and a pit bull?

And who is going to pick up these vicious animals? Where are they going to go — an animal shelter that is already bursting at the seams with pets of the non-vicious variety? How much pit bull in mixed breeds will constitute a violation? Who will make that determination?

Residents should expect a police department that provides safe neighborhoods for residents and businesses — that includes safety from vicious animals and dangerous criminals.

But city leaders need to consider the effect a new set of laws will have on our already limited law enforcement.

Ben Hillyer is the Web editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.