NCJ Number
156073
Date Published
1992
Length
46 pages
Annotation
This report examines the Los Angeles Police Department policy regarding police dogs and urges an immediate moratorium on the use of police dogs in the search for or apprehension of suspects and action by the Los Angeles Police Commission to order an independent investigation and management audit of the agency's K-9 unit practices and procedures.
Abstract
Los Angeles police dogs bite an average of almost one person per day, often unnecessarily under a policy in which police dogs are trained to find and bite whomever they encounter. The policy has created a system known to law enforcement as street justice, in which police officers mete out corporal punishment on the street and largely bypass the criminal justice system. Various organizations informed the Police Commission of this problem and called for action during 1991. The situation requires immediate action, because abuses by police dogs are not isolated aberrations from sound department policy. Extensive data, depositions, numerous traumatized victims, and the history of the problem all point to the need for quick and decisive action. Figures and depositions