Broken Arrow Police Cracking Down On People Leaving Pets In Hot Cars

The Broken Arrow Police Department is cracking down on people who leave pets in hot cars.

In the past week, the department received five calls about this and one resulted in a women spending four nights behind bars.

The Broken Arrow Police Department has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to leaving pets, kids or elderly people in locked cars during extreme temperatures.

We see it all the time, people driving around with their furry friends riding shotgun. But one simple mistake like leaving your pet in the car during the summer could be costly.

"They're careless. They don't care. They don't think about it," said dog owner Jordan Julian. "Dogs are just like us. We get too hot, and without the right temperatures and stuff, we can suffer from heat exhaustion and stuff like that."

BAPD was called to a store parking lot after someone spotted a dog locked inside a hot car. Police say they tried to page the owner on the store's intercom, but got no response.

"The officer had actually break the window out of the vehicle," said Cpl. Leon Calhoun.

Officers say the dog's owner, Chrystal Johnson, eventually came out of the store and was arrested for animal cruelty.

According to the police report, Johnson says she only ran into the store for a "short time" to grab some "dog food and other groceries" for a camping trip.

"It only takes a few minutes for something bad like that to happen, and it's something that you'll regret for the rest of your life, so no it's never something you want to risk," said veterinarian Dr. Kevin Long.

He said, although dogs can survive outside in hot temps, inside a locked car is a different story.

"Some dogs don't have the ability to compensate by panting, and that car can get very hot, very quickly," Long said.

Even though your car may show it's only 90 degrees outside, police say with your engine off, doors closed and windows cracked, it could still be more than 100 degrees inside.

"What people don't understand is, basically, your car becomes an oven," Calhoun said. "It lets the heat in, but there's no where for that heat to go, so it continues to get hotter and hotter."

Johnson declined to talk to us, but her family says she loves her dog and would never do anything to harm it.

BAPD says the other four people who left their dogs in the car were ticketed.

If you're caught leaving kids or elderly people in the car, then you could face a $750 fine.