The FBI is going to be keeping a closer watch on cases of animal cruelty across the county at the start of the new year and some are hoping that it will show the connection between animal abuse and other violent crimes.
Normally, the FBI has only tracked animal cases in a catch-all category on its National Incident Based Reporting System that compiles reports from across the country, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Starting in January, police departments will be required to report animal cases to the database. The FBI will call them "crimes against society," and will divide them into four categories: neglect, intentional abuse and torture, organized abuse and animal sexual abuse, The Sun reported.
The compiled information will not be released to the public until 2017, WRTV reported.
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