The fight over dog-eat-dog proponent, German shepherd police canine Scooby, who attacked civilian black lab Jake on Jan. 12, continues to divide the Sheriff's Department. The administration and its rank and file disagree about whether Deputy Sheriff Julie Wilbanks should keep her dog--and though that issue is now resolved--previously disagreed on whether she should keep her job. But a supersecret Sept. 17 report from the county counsel's investigator Sgt. David Langley sounds a larger warning bell about the evolutionary state of human-canine relationships. Specifically, the investigation report implies a frightening inability of a police canine handler to pry her dog off another creature. In a taped interview, one witness described a desperate Wilbanks "crying and screaming at Scooby to get off Jake." The witness, who describes himself as "not a dog lover," couldn't remember Wilbanks ever commanding the dog to let go. Instead, he said, Wilbanks told him to kick Scooby. When another neighbor walked up with a two-by-four, the first witness said that Wilbanks also told this other neighbor to hit Scooby "as hard as he could." Jake's owner also gave a taped statement recalling a version of the incident where Wilbanks, while never hitting Scooby herself, kept telling everyone else to strike Poochy. Though she refused, witnesses also apparently asked Wilbanks to shoot the dog. After all, Jake's mom indicated, Scooby was clearly a predator who, she said, "displayed an antagonistic attitude towards Jake," and who seemed intent on "provoking a fight." ... Some bystanders invested in the dispute, like the Deputy Sheriffs Association, which sides with Scooby's handler, opined that Wilbanks should get to keep the dog since he was only acting naturally (in his own homicidal way). Others contend that Scooby, whose teeth required a golf club, a two-by-four and backup to unclench from Jake's neck, shouldn't have the opportunity to bite neighbors anymore. Eye takes the alternative position that a dog--which, incidentally, cost the Sheriff's Department $30,000 precisely because it's trained in biting and killing--probably should get to sit gurulike at the apex of the food chain. In fact, we should from here on out refer to Scooby as our leader. Eye's opinion will undoubtedly be weighed during the continued squabble over Fang, which landed before an arbiter on Dec. 1. ... The handling of Scoobygate could even play a part in determining the next sheriff if Laurie Smith does take some important job handed to her by good buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger, as speculation dictates. Deputy Sheriffs Association head Jose Salcido went to bat both for keeping the dangerous pooch in a residential neighborhood and also for himself becoming the next sheriff, even though Smith hasn't said anything about leaving yet. (In fact, he received a letter from County Counsel Ann Ravel warning him not to lobby the county supes for an appointed position as interim sheriff during work hours--although Ravel says that letter's just a little something she sends out to county employees routinely whenever anyone suggests they might not know the rules.) Chatterboxes say that the Scooby thing already nearly bit Salcido in the butt, handing him the DSA chief position by a mere razor-thin, nine-vote margin in the last election. (Salcido boosters counter that the entire DSA membership voted with Salcido to support Wilbanks.) Salcido says he hasn't done anything improper, the letter from Smith's attorney Ravel notwithstanding. "Frankly, I think there's too much politics in this town, and I'm going to stay away from that," he says. Eye won't though. Watch for Salcido opponents to mention the Scooby scrap as an example of his judgment if he becomes an official contender for the county's top law enforcement job.
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