Constable Simon Crowcroft is considering the plans and says ‘inconsiderate dog-owners’ are ruining parts of town for other people and posing a health risk to St Helier parks and gardens staff by not picking up after their pets.
He has not given any indication as to which parks might be considered but said the People’s Park, the Parade and Howard Davis Park might not be appropriate.
‘It would not be entire parks but fenced-off areas within parks,’ said the Constable. ‘I accept the problem that this would effectively make is such areas would be unavailable for everyone else, so it’s not easy, but worth looking at. Perhaps there are some areas on the edge of town we could consider.’
It is currently illegal for dogs to be off the lead in almost every park in the parish.
Under the Policing of Parks (Jersey) Regulations 2005, the only park where dogs can run free off the lead in St Helier is the Glacis Field at the south of the old Fort Regent Pool.
Dog owners who do not pick up after their animals on roads, public places, footpaths and parks can also be fined hundreds of pounds under various legislation.
However, Mr Crowcroft said the law had been difficult to enforce.
‘Until we started employing park keepers recently there wasn’t the staff availability to police park regulations very effectively. The States police and honorary police have had higher priorities, on the whole.’
Last year an Islandwide campaign was launched by the Environment Department called Proud of You for Picking up My Poo in an effort to crack down on the problem. A scheme which would have involved creating a dog DNA database that could link pets to uncollected mess was also considered.
Mr Crowcroft added: ‘Our staff at the parish who carry out lawn mowing, strimming and other maintenance jobs in open spaces are exposed to health risks due to the dog mess left in the grass by inconsiderate dog owners – of which a proportion must be owners who are not aware of the nuisance their dog has caused due to it being off the lead.
‘In the zoned-off areas there would still be an expectation and a need for pet owners to pick up their dog’s mess. I do see merit in trying to provide a fenced-off area where dog owners can allow their dogs to romp about off their leads, and I am looking into this possibility with my team.’
Mr Crowcroft knows all too well what a nuisance dogs mess can be after treading in it while walking to Havre des Pas.
He said: ‘Recently I attended an evening meeting in Havre des Pas and took the opportunity to walk through Green Street cemetery in the dark. When I got to the meeting I changed out of my trainers into the proper shoes I had in my laptop bag.
‘It was only after I put the trainers in the laptop bag that I noticed my hands were covered in dog excrement, which had also gone all over the inside of the bag.’
