“His purpose seemed to be to teach the dog to release something it didn’t want to release.”
If the dog won’t release then it doesn’t need to be a police dog, period.
You copied the sections regarding helicoptering but conveniently missed the kicking part. Or is a boot to the ribs a leg sweep in law enforcement circles?
“Now clearly you want to want to make a judgment based on 15 seconds of video. “
“But I’m not going to judge that he’s a sadistic monster based on 15 seconds of grainy out of context video.”
What would it take? An hour of him kicking the dog? He admitted to doing it and yet you continue to make excuses for him. I’m guessing you are connected to law enforcement.
I'm not connected with law enforcement. But unlike many on Freerepublic I don't automatically paint them with the "jackbooted thug" label. I think this story is typical of the left's reporting of law enforcement stories. Always present police in the most negative way possible. As to what he "admitted" here's what the article says:
Jones claims the episode on Aug. 8 was not mistreatment. He contends that he was fired summarily without due process and has appealed to get his job back. In a deposition earlier this month, a senior officer with the patrol said that Gov. Mike Easley's office pressured the agency to fire Jones.
Here's some further information from this story:
Police dogs can be lethal weapons, and Jones contends that training them to obey commands can be a rough business. He argues that once his tactics were recorded on video, there was no way public officials from the governor on down would acknowledge that they were accepted practice.
"You cannot cite any training, any policy, any protocol that Sgt. Jones has violated — because there isn't any," said Jones' attorney, Jack O'Hale, as he questioned the man who upheld Jones' dismissal, North Carolina Crime Control and Public Safety Secretary Bryan Beatty.
I'm betting he was taught to train dogs exactly this way but politicians find it more expedient to disavow this to cover their butts politically rather than acknowledge that yes, it is a rough business to train police dogs. They are not pets and the same rules don't apply.
Bottom line is the dog was being trained, not abused. It wouldn't let go when it was being told to let go. It's a situation that has to be trained out or as you say, the dog wouldn't be a good for the job. But considering how they've probably already invested thousands of dollars into its training it's more practical to train the behavior out.
And again, if this were some cop stringing up a dog for no good reason except for the sadistic pleasure of kicking it then that's one thing, but in context that's not what's going on but the story is written, portrayed and people are reacting to it in exactly that way.