Baltimore officials Friday announced a new multi-agency task force to crack down on dog fighting in the city, a largely uninvestigated problem they said is closely linked to organized crime, drugs, gangs and illegal gambling.

The city’s police and health departments are creating a designated unit to investigate about 250 cases of animal cruelty reported annually, most of which are related to dog fighting, officials said. In Baltimore, animal control director Robert Anderson said the fighting appears to be mostly quick, impromptu bouts on city street corners and dog breeding in vacant homes.

“People who fight dogs are hardened. People who fight dogs have drugs, and illegal money laying around, and guns,” Anderson said. “My officers have been trained for citations and minor offenses, not felonies.”

The task force will include at least one dedicated police officer to investigate dog fighting and animal cruelty, said acting police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld. Police last week helped animal control officers raid a rowhome on Rutland Avenue, where several pit bulls were removed.

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Charges in that case could be forthcoming, and Bealefeld said arrests for dog fighting — punishable in Maryland by up to three years in prison, one year just for attending a fight — will lead to arrests in other crimes.

“As horrific as it is for the dogs, it has social ramifications back to the fabric of the community,” Bealefeld said.

Plans for the taskforce have been in the works for somes time, said city health commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, but were “propelled” by the indictement of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three co-defendents. Vick pleaded not guilty to federal charges relating to dog fighting Thursday.

jmalarkey@baltimoreexaminer.com