Police Dog Bites Man

[PuggaWuggles]

Police dog bites man who allegedly hit it - http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...358-952,00.html

A WOULD-BE car thief tracked by a police dog has copped a bite to the neck after he allegedly attacked the animal.

Police said the man was one of four people allegedly spotted trying to break into a car at New Farm around midnight.

When police arrived, the four split into two groups and the dog squad tracked two of them to a nearby yard.

As one squatted behind a house, the dog approached him and the man allegedly struck it.

The police dog reacted, snapping at the man's neck leaving him with a slight graze.

The 24-year-old was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital but did not require stitches.

Another man, aged 21, was also taken into custody.

Fortitude Valley detectives are investigating.

[poochmad]

That guy is lucky he only received a slight graze!

[OSoSwift]

Fortitude Valley detectives are investigating

Investigating what exactly??

An idiot belted a dog and it gave a warning snap?? Should of bitten harder in my opinion!

[persephone]

Good Dog!!!

[smooch]

Yes good Dog should have bitten harder.

[Zhou Xuanyao]

The more a dog is used to intimidate someone, and the harder it "bites", the more chance it will get hurt. Ofcourse the guy hit it.

The handlers put these dogs in danger and I dont agree with it. The other month there was a case (im sure it happens alot, but this one was reported) were a dog was kicked and hit with a baseball bat.

A dog is not a human police officer. You dont know what the dog is going to do, if its going to attack, and if it does attack how sustained that attack will be, its only natural to defend yourself against an aggressive loose dog, whether its a police dog or otherwise. Then when these dog gets hurt they turn around and blame the suspect, when they are the ones that have put the dog in the dangerous situation in the first place.

I think dogs should be used for all manner of work, law enforcement or otherwise, but not in an attacking role that puts them in danger.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Lo Pan

[HeisDemetrius]

The offender (or alledged offender) would have been warned to cease what he was doing several times before the K9 was let off leash, he obviously didn't. K9's are treated like officers and causing harm to them is treated in the same manner, he is lucky he was not shot.

[Akayla]

Dogs in attack roles still save lives Lo Pan Sometimes they get hurt but trust me the handlers are the most upset over this and do their best usually to keep the dog safe as possible.

[Pointees]

The offender (or alledged offender) would have been warned to cease what he was doing several times before the K9 was let off leash, he obviously didn't. K9's are treated like officers and causing harm to them is treated in the same manner, he is lucky he was not shot.

I thought these dogs were to stay on lead, until they had stopped the offender, and giving him a chance to come out, before letting it off.

And yes, it is only fair that it bite the guy. After all, human or animal, no one likes to be attacked, and not at work.

Works evil enough.

[Jeff Jones]

Fortitude Valley detectives are investigating

Investigating what exactly??

An idiot belted a dog and it gave a warning snap?? Should of bitten harder in my opinion!

They would be investigating what charges can be placed on the people involved. It would not have anything to do with the actions of the police dog handler

[Zhou Xuanyao]

The police may feel that deploying the dog to attack or intimidate may be of benifit, however its still the police departments fault if the dog gets hurt, not the suspects. The handler is the one that put the dog in a situation where it is nearly inevitable that it will be hurt.

[Jeff Jones]

The more a dog is used to intimidate someone, and the harder it "bites", the more chance it will get hurt. Ofcourse the guy hit it.

The handlers put these dogs in danger and I dont agree with it. The other month there was a case (im sure it happens alot, but this one was reported) were a dog was kicked and hit with a baseball bat.

The handlers put these dogs in danger so police officers do not get hurt, risks assessments and use of force continuum need to be applied in a short period of time based on the situation. You can remove canines for use in apprehensions but you have to realise you are creating a smaller gap in the use of force continuum scale.

A dog is not a human police officer. You dont know what the dog is going to do, if its going to attack, and if it does attack how sustained that attack will be, its only natural to defend yourself against an aggressive loose dog, whether its a police dog or otherwise. Then when these dog gets hurt they turn around and blame the suspect, when they are the ones that have put the dog in the dangerous situation in the first place.

I feel pretty safe in saying, yes you do know what the dog is going to do, which is why it has been justifiable to use dogs in Australia for policing roles for the past 75 years. You are acting as if the people who police deploy dogs on are innocent people walking down the road to the local shops to buy some bread and milk.

[Zhou Xuanyao]

The handler may know his dog, but the suspect doesnt.

All a suspect sees is an aggressive dog, he doesnt know what its capable of or what its going to do. Its a dog, a large one, which has been trained to attack, most people will do what it takes to defend themselves instinctively.

Having said that, I see your point aswell and understand that they have a role to play, but what im saying is that ultimately, when they get hurt its the police that are at fault for putting them in a danger. As you say

The handlers put these dogs in danger so police officers do not get hurt

So the chance of the dog getting hurt is pretty good and everyone knows that as soon as the leash is uncliped.

[OSoSwift]

however its still the police departments fault if the dog gets hurt, not the suspects

Sorry but I cannot agree.

It is the suspect who is responsible for hurting the dogs. They have sufficient warning to stop what they are doing before the dog is deployed.

Responsibilty for their own actions and consequence of action.

No-one likes to hear of any dog being hurt, but the blame lays squarely on the shoulders of the person who strikes out or hits or in any other way harms the dog.

[OSoSwift]

Fortitude Valley detectives are investigating

Investigating what exactly??

An idiot belted a dog and it gave a warning snap?? Should of bitten harder in my opinion!

They would be investigating what charges can be placed on the people involved. It would not have anything to do with the actions of the police dog handler

That is good to hear. To the police dogs and their handlers.

[Jeff Jones]

The handler may know his dog, but the suspect doesnt.

All a suspect sees is an aggressive dog, he doesnt know what its capable of or what its going to do. Its a dog, a large one, which has been trained to attack, most people will do what it takes to defend themselves instinctively.

Having said that, I see your point aswell and understand that they have a role to play, but what im saying is that ultimately, when they get hurt its the police that are at fault for putting them in a danger. As you say

The handlers put these dogs in danger so police officers do not get hurt

So the chance of the dog getting hurt is pretty good and everyone knows that as soon as the leash is uncliped.

Yes and that is a risk the police officer takes in deploying the dog, Yes it may get hurt. Police dog handlers are responsible for the deployment of the dog and do not have to deploy the dogs if they do not believe it is safe and reasonable. I think it shows with the number of police dog deaths this is taken pretty seriously. Only 4 police dogs have died whilst working in NSW.

If the person complies with police directions the dog does not get deployed whether you are making an apprehension or performing crowd control duties 99% of the time you are able to give a verbal warning of what is about to happen. If you do not want to get bitten by a police dog I suggest you comply when an officer yells out "dog squad stop or I will send the dog" "move back or you will be bit" "come out / identify yourself or I will send the dog"

Edited February 14, 2010 by Jeff Jones

[Akayla]

And thinking of them as being trained to attack doesnt really fit either. Most dogs are trained to do something very specific as a game or to only react when the handler themselves is threatened. The only one I can think of that might come close and they are still tained to "hold" not attack. They are very different things.

There has been a huge shift in the way these dogs and others are trained.

Of course there are plenty of people training guard dogs, personal protection ect that just train however they want to.

I also agree that its not the handlers fault (although Im sure they feel some responsibility) - its the people that create the need for the dogs. Not saying that will ever go away but they dont get away without some blame.

[Zhou Xuanyao]

Ok well we might have to agree to disagree.

Again, just to clarify, my views arnt about critisizing police or defending suspects, and im not saying that the dogs dont have a role to play, im just saying that they are knowingly bieng put in danger, and so the fate of that dog cannot be anyone's responsibility but the handlers and the police departments.

eta

Also what prompted me to post initially were various comments about the "dog should have bitten harder". Well the harder the dog bites, the more urgency there is to get it off. So the more serious the attack, the more serious the response, the more chance the dog will be hurt.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Lo Pan

[Lhok]

Even if the dog isn't an attack dog or let loose against a suspect they can still be attacked while working.

I know Lo Pan you said you aren't against dogs working for law enforcement but where I live I have seen innocent drug detection dogs been kicked and harmed just for doing there job. The fact is that it is there job to do that type of work and the dogs are trained to a degree to cope with the things that happen. I would hazard a guess if they had sent a human officer the person would still have attacked them. The damage done to both could have been worse in that case then what actually happened.

Good work police dog and handler.

--Lhok

[JAG]

No where did I read that the dog was off lead. That is a big assumption to make. The dog may have been on a long tracking lead and found the suspect around the corner of the house hence the reason for him being hit in the first place...

I have no problems with a suspect being bitten if he/she engages the dog to do so. As an enrolled police officer the dog is using his defence as would a human officer if attacked.