Police Dogs: Vicious Animals or Helpers

While the Police Department will tell you police dogs or K9's as many of us call them, are intensely trained animals to help the police in certain situations. Alot of people if asked, will tell you they think police dogs are mean and are trained to attack on command. Is being held by a police dog a form of brutality? If the human officer cannot bite a suspect then why should a dog be allowed to inflict such bodily injury?

German Shepherds are most widely known as being Police dogs, but a few other breeds are also used. Most police dogs are trained to intimidate, find, chase and hold suspects who are either running or hiding from the Police. Police state that the dogs objective is not to bite a fleeing suspect but to find, grab and hold on until the dogs handler gives the release command. While a suspect is being 'held' by the dog, he may get bitten even if he's not fighting or trying to get the dog off. Often times the officer will not call the dog off until the suspect has put his hands out to his sides and is laying down on his or her stomach. All the while the suspect is being bitten by the Police dog.

How hard would it be for the average person to lay still while having their arm or leg chewed on by a large animal? In many states, attacking a Police dog is a felony. So if you try to defend yourself while a police dog has your leg in it's mouth and is biting you. You may find yourself in even more trouble if you accidentally harm the dog while trying to get it off you. In many states the Police dogs now have the same rights as a human officer. If one is killed, the suspect can then be prosecuted the same as if he killed a human officer in the line of duty.

Dogs are also used in other parts of Law Enforcement. Dogs can be trained to sniff out drugs, bombs, explosives, chemicals and used in Airports to sniff the baggage for things that aren't supposed to be there.