Grieving Texas Dog Owners Want Police To Be Trained In How Not To Kill Animals
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 1 month ago
Grieving dog owners told House lawmakers Tuesday that animal training for police could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of beloved pets across the state.
“This training is mandatory for UPS and FedEx delivery men; why isn’t it for law enforcement?” said Cheri Scholz, who lives near Amarillo. Her 8-year-old blue heeler, Smokey, was fatally shot in 2012 by a police officer responding to a loose dog report.
Smokey had escaped from her yard. The officer attempted to get the dog into his car, but Smokey darted away, Scholz said. Neighbors who witnessed the event told Scholz the police officer then shot and killed the dog, she said.
The House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee considered two bills Tuesday from North Texas representatives that would require police to receive training in encountering animals. The bills were left pending.
Controversial dog shootings have grabbed headlines recently. Since 2009, Texas officers have shot more than 400 dogs, according to the animal advocacy group 4 Keeping Our Pets Safe.
Law enforcement representatives told lawmakers the training — a course that teaches officers how to deal with aggressive dogs and read an animal’s body language, among other things — could prevent officers from being attacked and save families the grief of unnecessary shootings.
“Canine encounter training will help fill this void and provide officers with effective options and valuable knowledge to use when we come into contact with dogs while performing our regular duties,” said Amy Knoll, assistant chief for the Cleburne Police Department.
One of the bills, by Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, would require all officers to receive training in encounters with animals. Another, by Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, would focus solely on dogs and require new officers and officers seeking promotion to complete a four-hour training program within two years.
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement would establish and require the training. Departments would absorb the cost.
Committee chairman Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, indicated that he preferred legislation that includes training for a variety of animals.
Phillips and Rep. Tony Dale, R-Cedar Park, also inquired about offering the course online in an effort to reduce costs, particularly for smaller police departments in far-flung parts of Texas.
“There are a lot of financial costs to training like that, where there’s travel and everything else, so that’s something we’re all going to have to think about,” Phillips said.
Gosh. I hate it when that happens to me. Every time Heidi runs off or barks at me or anyone else I haul off and blow her brains out. I’m on my seventeenth or eighteenth Heidi, now. It’s getting old, so maybe I need the same training.
Prior:
Note To Cops And Survivalists: The World If Full Of Animals, Embrace It!
More On Animals, Cops, Logistics And Survival
Michigan Cops Raid Wrong House And Shoot Beloved 15-Year Old Dog
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On March 12, 2015 at 12:14 pm, Archer said:
Seriously, animal body language is not that hard, and additionally, there’s significant interspecies cross-over (in that a “threatened dog” projects many of the same cues as a threatened cat, or a threatened cow). I’m sure these same cops who shoot dogs because they can’t read canine body language pride themselves on their supposed finely-tuned ability to accurately read human body language, all the while forgetting that unlike animals, humans are capable of intentionally projecting false body language cues.
All the animal sensitivity and body language training in the world won’t prevent shootings by cops who are a) suffering from zoophobia, the irrational fear of animals; or b) on a power-trip and lie to justify pulling the trigger on a “lesser being”. And I’d note that the body language training will simply inform and empower the latter group in making their lies more credible; it’ll teach them what to say they saw, in order to escape accountability.
On March 12, 2015 at 7:00 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
Honestly, Archer, I don’t think most steroided up LEO’s give a shit about dog body language. They just wanna kill sumpthin…
On March 12, 2015 at 7:06 pm, Archer said:
I don’t, either. I’m just saying that making those guys undergo training will only give their lies more credibility; they’ll go out into the community knowing exactly what to say to be believable.
On March 12, 2015 at 3:09 pm, Bill Daigle said:
Cops and dogs don’t mix. The dog is honest and forthcoming, making the two incompatible. As far as using dogs in LE that’s just another tool very similar to the right cops have to lie during interrogation. To all the good honest cops out there…thank you, and to the other 98 % …ha ha well, you get the picture
On March 12, 2015 at 6:59 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
Cops are so afraid of the average dog, that even LEO’s balls must be made of pussy. These guys are afraid of everything. They also want to kill someone or something with that Glock Nine they haul around everyday.
This storyline is getting old – really old. All a LEO has to do – after they shoot a dog or child, is say they “feared for their life.” It’s like the mantra they use while beating someone to death: “Stop resisting. Stop resisting.”