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This is ridiculous. I would long since have called children's services if this were happening in my neighborhood, esp. if I had called the cops and nothing was done. There is something wrong if cops can walk away from a situation like that and the garbage remains unsecured.
Generally speaking, garbage conditions are the domain of Code Enforcement and the Board of Health, not the Police Department. Conditions that are attracting nuisance bears are the domain of the Black Bear Response Unit.
If I were to respond to a call of a bear in the trash receptacle at that day care center or school, my response would be dictated by the totality of the circumstances. In the city where I work in, the trash receptacles are not kept within the playground area. However, if there are children in the area, they would be evacuated from that area and contained within the building. The Black Bear Response Unit would be contacted, and we would stand by and monitor the bear until the arrival of that unit. Unless life is in imminent danger, in my department, we are NOT TO SHOOT animals.
But I digress ... if I find horribly maintained trash receptacles that attract bear, I'll take a report and forward the information to the appropriate authority. Any further investigation and action would be undertaken by that authority, not by me, as a police officer.
The following link can describe for those that reside in states other than NJ how NJ handles bears.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/bearfacts_resandmgt.htm
Delighted to hear that you would have DONE something; if referral was what you needed to do, fine. I did not intend to imply that this was the fault of the police officer, only that it should not have remained unaddressed by the appropriate authorities. We don't know where the ball got dropped in this case.
When I worked for a government agency, it was made clear to us that if we got a call that was not our responsibility, we were to find whose it was, and make sure the caller was connected with the correct agency. Sometimes this was time consuming. I find it very frustrating that not all government agencies work this way.