"... but it's a mistake to blame the dogs; they do what they are trained (or mistrained) to do ..."

Art by Eric Drooker

... the real culprits are bad handling, bad training, and bad policy-making. For things to change, it's the two-footed cops who have to be held accountable...."

For many, 'police dog abuse' immediately brings to mind the tumultuous events of 1963, when the notorious bigot 'Bull' Connor ordered his Birmingham police officers to deploy snarling German shepherds and water cannons against civil rights marchers. Images of these events were televised across the U.S., and the outrage they generated turned out to be a pivitol factor in rallying popular support for the civil rights movement. Later, it was the Birmingham dog attacks which were chosen as the subject of a statue erected in Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham (see: Birmingham Civil Rights Memorial) to commemorate the courage of those who stood at the front lines in the civil rights movement.

Police dog abuse has resurfaced on many occasions since that time. This site offers links to news reports, historical context, and other information relevant to this issue.

If a broken link is encountered, please notify me (g8alert@yahoo.com) and an archived version of the missing information will be made available.

Birmingham - 1963

Ottawa - November 2001

Abu Ghraib - Dec. 2003

**This website mainly documents cases of irresponsible and/or malicious deployment of police dogs. For further information on abusive practices during the training of police dogs, see: StopLynching.com

Recent Reports

• Canadian man says he was terrorized by dogs, threatened with life in prison by U.S. agents (April 19, 2006 / AP) "... [Akhil Sachdeva] is among eight foreign detainees who have sued U.S. officials, contending they were mistreated and terrorized by snarling dogs during four months at the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey. The class-action lawsuit is open to some 800 foreign-born detainees who were held for roughly the same amount of time.... 'One day I have everything, the next day they destroyed my life and I was not even charged for anything - I had done no crime. I understand that there was a need of national security then, but how can they treat people that way? ...We never knew. Sometimes you're sitting in a cell and suddenly there are eight or 10 officers holding dogs, then they took us in small corridors and pushed us against the walls and the dogs were two inches away....'"

• Ex-K-9 handler faces charges (April 15, 2006 / The Republican) "[Gregory J. Skop], a former Enfield Police Department K-9 handler, has been charged with using his police dog to threaten his ex-girlfriend...."

• Children's Terror as Scottish Police Dog Bites Them (April 14, 2006 / The Scotsman) A POLICE dog attacked three children, chasing them through the streets and biting them, after it escaped from its handler's home. The highly trained dog, which broke free from the officer's home in Musselburgh, East Lothian, and bit the children who were playing football nearby, may now have to be destroyed...."; Fate of police 'attack' dog in the balance (April 15, 2006 / The Scotsman)

• Deputy attacked by police dog sues (Feb. 27, 2006 / AP) "A Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy who shot and killed one of the department's dogs last year after it attacked her (see: Canine shot for attacking police officer; Oct. 18, 2005 / Albuquerque Tribune) has sued the sheriff and two other department officials. Detective Heather Schreckendgust, in a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court, seeks unspecified damages and evaluations by the department of the need for muzzles on attack dogs, how they're trained and their role.... The dog, a Belgian malinois called Bart, also was the focus of a lawsuit alleging it attacked and refused to let go of a woman who was chased by deputies in 2003 (see: Bernalillo Activist Hospitalized After Fleeing From Police; Oct. 30, 2003 / AP). Schreckendgust's lawsuit names Sheriff Darren White as policy-maker; the dog's handler, Deputy Larry Harlan; and the lead canine trainer, Deputy Kevin Sheldahl.... The lawsuit says the case arose in part from aggression training for dogs, 'entrenched policies of using dogs without muzzles,' training deficiencies and policies that caused a dog 'that already was known as uncontrollably violent' to attack her. The lawsuit said department officials were aware of the earlier lawsuit targeting Bart. That lawsuit, filed by Toni Osborn, alleged Bart chewed on Osborn's arm for nearly three minutes, essentially destroying it, and that an officer had to put a shock collar on the animal to stop it...."

• Iraq provincial governor suspends US cooperation (Feb. 21, 2006 / Reuters) "The governor of Iraq's Kerbala province, Aqil al-Khazali, said on Tuesday he had suspended all cooperation with U.S. forces because U.S. security staff last week used police dogs to search government buildings.... The use of dogs 'created a situation of discontentment and anger from these acts so we decided to suspend the cooperation with them and we will not let them interfere in the future,' Khazali said...."

• Drug-sniffing dogs curbed at the private property line (Feb. 16, 2006 / Miami Herald) "In a decision cheered by civil libertarians, an appeals court on Wednesday upheld a controversial court ruling that keeps drug dogs from sniffing on private property without a search warrant...."

• Among the newly released photos are images showing military dogs being used to terrorize prisoners

  Abu Ghraib Abuse in Newly-Aired Images (Feb. 15, 2006 / AP) "An Australian television network broadcast photographs and video clips Wednesday that it said were previously unpublished images of the abuse of Iraqis held in U.S. military custody at Abu Ghraib prison ...."

• Senators to probe Abu Ghraib testimony (Feb. 8, 2006 / Sydney Morning Herald) "A US Senate committee will look into discrepancies in accounts of how dogs came to be used to abuse detainees at a US prison in Iraq, after a general who testified to the committee then declined to testify in a military court. US Army Major-General Geoffrey Miller, a key player in the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last month invoked his right not to incriminate himself in the cases of two soldiers charged with using dogs to abuse detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad...."

• Mountie dog attacks man helping police (Feb. 8, 2006 / CBC) "A Yellowknife radio announcer is in an Edmonton hospital after being bitten by the RCMP's controversial new police dog. According to the RCMP, CJCD radio host Paul McMullen was trying to help apprehend two youths who had fled police on Monday afternoon.... McMullen was flown to Edmonton for treatment of bite wounds...." (see Jan. 19 below for another incident involving the same K9 handler)

• Officer kills dog he was training in Garden City (Feb. 5, 2006 / The Idaho Statesman) "A Garden City police officer shot and killed a dog he was training at his home Friday evening after the dog attacked the officer and a Boise police officer, Garden City police report. The 2-year-old male Belgian Malinois was not a police dog but had been purchased by the Garden City sergeant for a personal business he operates to raise, train and sell dogs for public safety agencies, Police Chief Jim Bensley said.... Bensley would not release the names of the officers or additional details, citing an ongoing investigation...."

• Police Dog Bites Middle School Student During Special Presentation (Jan. 31, 2006 / WAVE3) "The Hazelwood Middle School student attacked by a police dog Monday continued recovering at home Tuesday. Eleven-year-old Courtney McGarry was petting a dog from New Albany's K9 unit after a D.A.R.E. presentation at her school when the dog bit her on the face.... The dog will stay on the force because [New Albany Police Chief Merle] Harl says the animal did what it was trained to do. But the officer handling the dog could have a written reprimand placed in his record."; Police dog bites school girl (Jan. 31, 2006 / WHAS) "A sixth grader at a New Albany, Indiana middle school is recovering after being bitten by a police dog. Courtney McGarry received 15 stitches after the attack at Hazelwood Elementary School Monday afternoon...."; Police dog bites Hazelwood student (Jan. 31, 2006 / News Tribune) "...Her parents also took the 11-year-old to Floyd Memorial Hospital and, later, to an undisclosed hospital in Louisville to see a plastic surgeon...."; NAPD Chief says officer erred with K-9 (Feb. 1, 2006 / News Tribune); Mother of girl bitten by police dog threatens to sue New Albany (Feb. 2, 2006 / Courier-Journal) "Michelle McGarry said she is considering suing the city of New Albany and the New Albany-Floyd County school system. The statement came at a press conference held in the office of her attorney, Bart Betteau. New Albany Police Chief Merle Harl said the city would cover Courtney McGarry's medical costs, but Betteau said there could be other damages, such as the bite's psychological impact...."; Mom says dog-bite victim traumatized (Feb. 2, 2006 / News-Tribune) "Her face in bandages, Courtney McGarry kept silent as her mother spoke of her daughter’s ordeal.... Under the bandage on her daughter’s cheek are 15 stitches mending the wound from the dog. It may take up to 18 months for the 11-year-old’s wounds to completely heal and, in the meantime, McGarry said her daughter is taking antibiotics to ward off infection and has consulted a plastic surgeon about her injuries.... NAPD Chief Merle Harl said earlier this week Condor will remain on the force to perform patrols and drug searches but will likely not return to schools for classroom demonstrations. Harl also said it is the department’s policy not to allow people to pet K-9s."; NAPD's Condor to be quarantined for 10 days (Feb. 4, 2006 / News Tribune);
  (ed. note:) Obviously a policy is of little use if the officers on the force are not properly trained to adhere to it -- and one hopes that McGarry's lawyer will consider filing for punitive damages as well as for medical and psychological compensation. But above and beyond these considerations, one has to wonder: why are K-9 demonstrations held in schools in the first place? What use do they serve? Are they a form of propaganda designed to sell the idea of increased police presence in schools? Are they a 'marketing tool' to promote the expansion of police K-9 programs? Are they merely efforts to intimidate students -- to scare them into 'staying straight'? Probably all of the above, but the plain truth is that none of this has much to do with a genuine concern for children's education. Meanwhile, as police K-9 demonstrations at schools become more common, so do cases of children being bitten (See: Tacoma police dog bites boy at school program and McKees Rocks police dog bites child again, for instance).

• Savaged (Jan. 27, 2006 / Lincolnshire Echo) "...'The pain was so bad and blood was spurting out. The dog had clamped onto my leg and was actually dragging me along the road with its teeth. The policeman was screaming at the dog to pull off, but it wouldn't. Then he rammed his baton into its jaws and twisted its head off my leg. But the dog ripped a massive chunk out of my calf at the same time....' [The victim] has not been charged with a criminal offence...."

• Officer Suspended for Mistreating K-9 Partner (Jan. 25, 2006 / Daily News) Another officer visiting the K9-handler's abandoned home "found the dog locked in his kennel. He had food and water but had been sitting in his own filth for days...."

• Mounties defend police dog's actions (Jan. 19, 2006 / CBC News) "Yellowknife RCMP ... won't release details of an alleged attack by the dog on a man who says he had already surrendered to police... and refuse to release the report the dog handler wrote about what happened...."

• Girl Scout attacked by police dog (Jan. 18, 2006 / AP) "A police dog has been impounded after authorities say the animal jumped a six-foot fence and attacked a nine-year-old girl attending a Girl Scout meeting.... Courtney Imoukhuede of Lawrenceville ... received five bite marks on her lower back and several more on her arm from the two-year-old dog.... DeKalb County Police Officer John Hansen is the dog's handler and kept the animal at his house in Lawrenceville in the Knollwood Lakes subdivision. Police cited the officer with two misdemeanors: failure to restrain his animal and public nuisance/attacks without provocation...."

• LA judge allows negligence suit in case of man killed by deputies (Jan. 17, 2006 / AP) "The family of a man who was shot to death by sheriff's deputies after they turned a dog on him during a standoff can sue the animal's handler and other officials, a judge said in a tentative ruling Tuesday...."

• Boy injured by police dog after brawl outside Wal-Mart (Jan. 9, 2006 / AP) "...[Police spokeswoman Aisha] Johnson says the 13-year-old boy was hiding behind several cargo boxes and refused to come out after police ordered him to. Officers then let a police dog loose on him. He was bitten on the arm and released the same night from a local hospital...."

• Inmate files $3 million lawsuit against jail, sheriff's department (Jan. 4, 2006 / Newport Plain Talk) "... [Deputy Johnny Black] positioned the dog a few feet from Mr. Cutshall's head and teased the dog by loosening his grip, then pulling the dog back as it got close to [his] head on the floor. The dog was barking furiously, and came close enough that Mr. Cutshall could smell the animal's breath...."

• Click here for police dog abuse archives from 2005

Note: The creation of this website is motivated by a concern for social justice, not a dislike for dogs. I know what it is to become best buddies with a dog, and this relationship can be just as precious as a human-to-human one. But trust can be abused, which is exactly what happens when canine officers use their dogs as responsibility buffers in order to direct violence with impunity. Typically, when a police department senses K9-related trouble, the strategy is to "blame the dog" with claims that the animal panicked, overreacted, miscalculated, or somehow "lost it". In serious cases, police departments will even resort to preemptive euthanasia in order to divert public condemnation away from the humans who are ultimately responsible for K9 policies and control. Meanwhile, although victims of police dog abuse are routinely awarded large civil liability claims, those who are ultimately responsible for police dog abuse almost always escape criminal responsibility for their actions.

Links to additional reports which people wish to suggest for inclusion in this archive can be sent to Eric Squire at: g8alert@yahoo.com