Recently there has been news out of Foley about animal cruelty issues from a specific location. This has caused numerous residents to take to social media and make allegations against people and neighbors.

The Foley Chief of Police, Thurston Bullock, has taken to social media to combat any false allegations and ask local residents to trust the process. In a Facebook post the Police Chief stated the following:

A MESSAGE FROM CHIEF BULLOCK:

Please do not be drawn into social media sensationalism and anti-police rhetoric. The police department is also not a means by which to harass your neighbors. We take calls seriously and have investigated this particular case that keeps circulating on social media thoroughly and more than once, and the claims have continued to be unfounded. An outside agency even checked into it with the same results. Surveillance has been conducted with negative results. We have checked into the situation again as recently as today with direct contact of the owner and everything was fine with the dog being inside WITH shelter, food, and water. 

We have been provided with no additional direct evidence that there have been any other violations of law to act upon. We have investigated and charged accordingly on a previous incident and taken the actions we are allowed by law. We can assure you, the public, that if an animal or human were being mistreated, we'd do everything in accordance with the law to address that matter. 

We are firm believers in free speech and have not interjected with that in any way on social media, but bombarding dispatch with calls over social media influence without direct knowledge or something to go upon or fact checking the source only ties up our resources to get help to legitimate calls for service. 

We always appreciate and need help from our citizens and need assistance in keeping everyone, including animals, in our community safe, but please evaluate the source of information accordingly. 



- Chief Bullock