All too often, dogs are easy targets of questionable
police shootings
Twice in recent days, police officers have gunned down family pets in incidents where the animals posed little or no clear threat to humans. The killings raise serious questions about law enforcement attitudes toward the use of force, law enforcement attitudes toward the general population and the potential for violent confrontations between police and the people they are supposed to protect.
In Park Forest, Illinois, police investigating a burglary entered the yard of the Walker family with a police dog in tow. Princess, the Walker's German shepherd-pit bull mix, apparently smelled the police canine on the other side of the door and scratched to be let out. Thinking the dog needed to answer a call of nature, the Walkers' 10-year-old son opened the door, at which point Princess ran to investigate the intruders.
One of the officers promptly shot the dog with his service revolver.
According to the Southtown Star, "Walker said the bleeding dog crawled back into the house, spilling blood everywhere, including on the hands of Walker's two stunned children."
Princess died of blood loss.
In Pittsburgh, a sheriff's deputy knocked on Tara Mangan's door, intending to deliver tax documents to the upstairs neighbor. According to WPXI, "She said she directed him to the French doors on the side of the house. Moments later, she said she heard a gunshot and found Lincoln dead in the back yard."
The deputy claimed a misunderstanding in the shooting of Lincoln, a 10-month-old pit bull. He thought he was being attacked and didn't realize that the dog was leashed and unable to reach him. Mangan disagrees.
“There is no misunderstanding. He shot my dog maliciously."
It would be bad enough if canine killings were just isolated excesses. But they're not nearly rare enough.
In September, a Mount Olive, North Carolina, police officer killed a 45-pound Labrador retriever with two shotgun blasts, despite the protests of a bystander, after it bared its teeth. He then stuffed the dog's body in a plastic bag, dumped it by the curb and left a note for the owner accusing her of owning a "vicious dog."
And in August, Grady County, Oklahoma, Deputy Sean Knight stopped in Blanchard at the home of Tammy Christopher to ask directions. He ended up shooting her approaching dog in the head. A video of that incident has become evidence in a lawsuit against Knight, the county and the state.
The most famous such recent incident was undoubtedly the killing of two dogs at the home of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo. The animals were gunned down during a particularly senseless raid after police had already intercepted a package of marijuana addressed to Calvo's wife -- and which authorities already had good reason to believe was supposed to be retrieved by a smuggling ring before ever reaching the Berwyn Heights address.
Calvo and his wife were cleared -- and so were the quick-to-shoot police officers who could as easily have killed innocent people as they gunned down dogs.
Which is the sort of big, red flag that appears in each and every one of these incidents.
Time and again, police and government officials have gone out of their way to excuse such shootings. Park Forest Deputy Police Chief Mike McNamara insists his officer "had no choice but to shoot the dog." Allegheny County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Joseph Rizzo claimed his deputy had "no recourse." Mount Olive Town Manager Charles Brown says, "any time an officer feels threatened, they have the right to respond." And Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson claims "the guys did what they were supposed to do."
Never mind that these killings of household pets typically occur when the police are guests on private property -- sometimes as intruders, with minimal justification. The shootings, at the very least, display a remarkably cavalier attitude toward the personal property represented by pets, and a frightening willingness to use lethal force in response to the slightest provocation. That animals are on the receiving end of that force explains why the police officers in these incidents usually get off with little or no punishment, and often are protected by their departments.
But, as we all know, pets aren't just animals, and they're not just property. If we need academic confirmation of our own feelings about our pets, research by David Blouin, a graduate student at Indiana University, reveals that "[m]ore American dog owners report being close to their dog than report being close to their own mother or father. ... Most pet owners view their animals as family members."
Police live in the same world as the rest of us. They're fully aware of the relationships most people have with their dogs, and they still reach all too easily for their guns when an animal comes to sniff an intruder or bares its teeth in defense of its yard.
That relationship has more disturbing implications. Given the familial connection so many people feel to their animals, and the proximity of so many pet shootings to private homes in which people live and keep whatever weapons they may own, it's inevitable that killings of dogs will ultimately result in confrontations with people. Put bluntly, somebody is going to see a stranger in a blue shirt gun down Rover in the backyard and grab a shotgun to settle the score.
You can't shoot down a family member without people reacting as if a family member has been shot down, no matter what the law or department policy may say.
Do police not understand where their actions inevitably lead? Or do they not care?
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Comments
My two Westies would have been barking mad at the "intruders." Do we need dog sensitivity training?
---Mic
What modern police officer does not have GPS? What modern police officer does not have a cell phone? What even not so modern officer does not have a police radio? Any of these devices could have been used to "ask directions" without ever leaving the car... A police oficer stops to ask directions? Please.. WE are the ones who stop to ask POLICE officers directions.. very scary to think a police officer would be "lost" and would shoot a dog on its own property and very scary to think he may be coming to save someones' life...No police radio?.. no cell phone.. no GPS...No common sense. . very soon someone will be murdered during one of these shootings.. and it won't be a dog.. all of these officers have gotten away with their actions.. so far.. people do view pets as more than property . I do believe some people have been injured while police shot 'dangerous dogs'.. not to mention the killings that are witnessed by owners and their CHILDREN.
It is 520 feet from the entrance to my driveway to my front door. That's a lot of ground for a trigger happy intruder to have to negotiate to get away.
The UPS man comes regularly, the garbage man comes regularly, the preacher's wife comes regularly all three of my dogs bark their heads off, and run to meet them,every time. None of these people have felt threatened or been harmed by my dogs.
But a coward with a gun and not enough sense to not use it, still has 520 feet to negotiate to get away. I will do what I can to see that he doesn't.
This is more than an issue of pets. Everybody has heard that a sure sign of sociopathy and an accurate precursor of future criminal behavior against humans in young people is their willingness to exhibit cruelty to animals. As such it is treated with the utmost disgust and punishment when the perpetrators are caught. It sure as Hell should be no different for adults, adults who have been trained, granted power, and sworn an oath.
The police should be disarmed immediately. It is clear that they cannot be trusted with dangerous weapons.
I'm serious.
One of the solutions to this problem is for the public to shun and shame these police departments. Local animal rescues, shelters, and humane societies should refuse to adopt pets to any officers or employees of a department that is involved in such a senseless shooting. They should look for cause (any hint of neglect, abuse, etc.) to seize any pets they already have. Clearly they are incapable of the responsibilities of pet ownership.
Let these bleeping cops explain to their crying kids that they can't have a puppy because mommy/daddy works for an agency that likes to shoot dogs for sport. Once their kids and their communities hate them, shun them, and spit on them, they will rethink they're blue-wall-of silence that defends these disgusting actions.
If a police officer shoots my dog without reason he best be able to run 3200 feet per second and his IIIA vest isn't gonna do a bit for him.
One thing to add:
Castle doctrine says I do not have to retreat if myself or my property is attacked in criminal fashion. There's no law enforcement exception for that just like there's no law enforcement exception for a policeman stealing my car or breaking my windows.
Everything went to hell when we lost out "Justice Departments" and got "Law Enforcement Agencies". They aren't the same thing.
i know white, middle class professionals who are getting mad, figuring out gasoline bombs and watching where the pg county police and sherrif cruisers are parked at night. their figuring escape routes. these are smart people, and their mad, and they can't be the only men doing this. their just bidding their time. this is rediculous. it should not have come to this.
rabid animals should be stopped, unfortunately they're the ones with the guns.
i tell you what, this would all stop real fast if after something like this happens people grabbed their guns and shot a few of the cops right back.
it would stop real fast.
Damned straight, Marcus.
Let me tell you if cops came to my house by mistake and shot one of my dogs, they would not be in a good place where they would not be able to leave my house just like the dog. I never hated police but lately with all the dog shootings and always they seem to be at the wrong house, I am starting to have a strong dislike for them. I don't even care that one of my parents is in law enforcement and so were other relatives. I think they need to start doing something about this epidemic. I know they have a job to do but does shooting dogs part of the job description.
Let me tell you, I never hoped for the law of karma to be true than now. All these criminal, trigger happy cops should get back what they dish out, ten fold. They will have to shoot me too because if they ever shoot one of my dogs, they are not going to walk away. I will die trying to do so. I don't care. You come in my house and shoot my dog/s you are not walking away. Maybe all these cops are stressed out because the price of donuts has gone up.
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