Posted on 12/07/2004 1:01:10 PM PST by EggsAckley
NEWARK, N.J. -- Jails and detention centers around the country must stop using police dogs to control detainees as of Saturday under a new policy issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Homeland Security Department, issued a memo to its 22 regional field offices last month ordering them to refrain from contracting with facilities that use dogs around detainees. The facilities will still be able to use the dogs to sniff for drugs or other contraband, said bureau spokesman Russ Knocke.
"We believe there are other effective tools that can be used," he said.
Knocke said the department has received complaints about dogs being used against detainees, "but I wouldn't suggest it was cause and effect in terms of the new policy. This is something we had been working on for a number of years."
Immigrants rights workers hailed the directive as long overdue.
"We are encouraged at this victory," said Eric Lerner, a leader of the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee. "It's clearly the result of the work of immigrants rights groups over the last 18 months since we exposed the use of dogs against detainees."
There are between 200 to 400 detainees at the Passaic County Jail, which gets $77 per day from the federal government for housing each inmate.
Bill Maer, a spokesman for Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, said the jail will comply with the Saturday deadline by moving detainees to a different section of the jail where dogs will not be permitted. Until then, he said, the dogs will continue to be used for tasks like accompanying prisoners being transferred to and from the infirmary, or to break up fights or disturbances at the jail.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Yes, but lions and tigers are harder to train.
Gee....those poor immigrants have it so ruff....
We need to secure the borders and kick the ILLEGALS out. We need to stop calling them UNDOCUMENTED workers. They have broken the law and should be dealt with accordingly.
Viking Kitties, perhaps?
Guard dogs are a great tool. Cuts down on manpower plus islamics don't care for dogs so these fanatics would be thinking twice about angering the dog.
"Without the dogs there has been an increase in fights at the jail," Maer said.
This is all and only about being PC. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is not serious about its mission.
Yup.
A snarling German Shepard needs no translator.
It should be interesting to watch, 'eh?
That I don't know.
The article doesn't make it clear, but it appears that prisoners other than Illegal Alien detainees will still be controlled by dogs. Sweet, criminal foreigners will get better treatment than not yet convicted US citizens.
How about those abusive locks on jail doors?
He is the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security which contains ICE, CBP and I believe TSA.
On a side note, most people do not know that illegal immigrants receive better detention standards than US citizens. There is a big story there if someone from the MSM would care to write it.
Yeah, oh, the humanity! Locks on the doors!!
Homeland Security needs to be done away with, what a useless agency spending billions hiring welfare cases to make the unemployment numbers look better.
Don't feed the dogs and make them lunch on illegals!
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