As the executive director and the chief humane law enforcement officer of the Monmouth County SPCA, I felt it was important to address the recent New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI) report about the New Jersey SPCA that was just released.
If you had a chance to read this recently published report, you would have read that the SCI investigators found many troubling practices by the NJSPCA. You should know this report only addresses the NJSPCA and not any of the county SPCAs.
The NJSPCA has the authority by law to grant sub-charters to any of the 21 New Jersey counties that wish to have a county SPCA. The Monmouth County SPCA was authorized and granted our charter from the state on Nov. 15, 1945. Once granted a charter, the county SPCA becomes a separate entity which is governed by its own bylaws and board of trustees.
Please allow me to assure you the Monmouth County SPCA is an extremely well organized agency that fulfills our core and statutory function of enforcing the animal cruelty laws of New Jersey and saving thousands of lives each year through our adoption center and medical clinic.
Every law enforcement call we receive is answered and investigated in a prudent and timely manner. All of our legal fiduciary reporting and audits are performed with extreme care and professionalism.
In short, the Monmouth County SPCA is completely separate from the NJSPCA and the SCI investigation report has nothing to do with the Monmouth County SPCA. If you have any concerns or questions, I am always here to answer them.
Ross Licitra
Chief of Police-Executive Director
Monmouth County SPCA
Eatontown