POLICE TO GET DOG RECORDS ELECTRONICALLY GLENDALE PROJECT FOLLOWS MAULING DEATH.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

GLENDALE - City dog license records will be shared electronically with police and firefighters so they will know when to watch for potentially dangerous dogs when they go to a home, officials said Wednesday.

The information-sharing project comes in the wake of the Aug. 2 death of toddler Cassandra Garcia, who was mauled by her grandparents' Rottweiler. Police squirted the dog with pepper spray to get it away from the toddler and her mother so paramedics could aid them.

``When I heard about how our safety personnel, police and fire, responded to that call, unfortunately where the child was mauled, it made me think about the risk our department faces when they're out in the field,'' said City Clerk Ardashes Kassakhian.

The City Clerk's Office already has been sharing information from its dog registry, so police officers who go to a home can call the clerk's office to find out whether a dog is at the address.

But the office is only open during business hours, and making the information available electronically will help officers at night and on weekends, said Sgt. Tom Lorenz, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department.

Sharing the information by computer could help police and firefighters on calls varying from a medical emergency at a home to neighbors' complaints about dogs barking at night, officials said.

``Obviously this doesn't mean that every dog on the list is vicious,'' said Capt. Bill Lynch, a spokesman for the Glendale Fire Department. ``It just gives us the heads-up to keep our eyes open and take the necessary precautions.''

Through July, the City Clerk's Office had 10,662 dogs registered at Glendale addresses. Dog owners must license dogs older than 4 months, and the City Clerk's Office keeps on file such information as the dog's name, breed and age.

Officials could not say how soon the electronic sharing of such information could happen, but the project is under way.

``It's just something that should have been done that may have been difficult to do when everything was index cards and little pieces of paper,'' Kassakhian said. ``Now with advances in technology it can be done very easily.''

The state Assembly on Monday approved SB 861, which would allow local governments to impose spaying and neutering requirements on specific breeds of dogs. The measure next goes to the state Senate. The bill is opposed by dog-owner groups, which say it is difficult to accurately identify breeds and that owners, rather than particular types of dogs, are at fault when dogs attack people.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com