Anyone leaving a pet inside a sun-baking vehicle deserves imprisonment. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an 83-degree day can heat the inside of a car to 109 degrees in 15 minutes.

But before you can turn in such a savage, you must take steps to save the animal’s life. Naturally, social-media chatter during last month’s heat wave addressed this, including the intimation that breaking glass in case of emergency is warranted, if not encouraged.

Not so, says Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer Larry Hadfield, for anyone doing so will be subjected to a criminal investigation along with the cruel or careless pet owner. “There is no permission from the police [for civilians] to break windows,” Hadfield adds.

The official (and less-destructive) protocol: Immediately dial up Animal Control and/or the police—the authorities actually deputized to save entrapped animals by whatever means necessary—and stick around until they arrive.