I live in the foothills east of Seattle. If there is any kind of disturbance around my house the police are the last thing I would call. Show up and shoot my dog.
Never shot a dog, and don’t intend to. Love ‘em and carry treats for them in my beat.
But there is no current training that I can think of that can train some officers not to be afraid of a dog. That baggage they bring with them.
I wish there was technology that officers had to mitigate these incidents, but when a pit bull is charging you, as has happened with some of my colleagues, you are going to go with the tool that is most effective and the quickest to deploy.
I would like to see specific training introduced in the police academy in handling dogs, as there are simple methods to defuse encounters, like banging on the fence prior to entering a yard for a call for service to determine if a dog is present.
“I live in the foothills east of Seattle. If there is any kind of disturbance around my house the police are the last thing I would call. Show up and shoot my dog.”
My fear too. Its as if the police are not satisfied with having the entire black race despise thmm so now they’re after the scorn of everyone else. Problem is police see and treat all civilians (eg non police)as potential scum and the enemy.Having said that is not to condemn them all as it varies from person to person and department to department.It all stems back to polticians and leadership which in most cases is piss poor It is a thankless, dangerous job and they confront the very worst and most dangerous dregs of society. They have to deal with the most grisly and bloody scenes. Kind of like living with PTSD. Become very jaded with huge psychological defense mechanisms at play.Take it out on everybody.