Brittany Preston
Bereaved owners argue that when
police shoot dogs it a violates their Fourth Amendment rights
Lexie, a Labrador mix, was
barking in fear when the police arrived at her owner’s suburban Detroit house
early in the morning last November. The officers, responding to a call about a
dog roaming the area, arrived with dog-catching gear. Yet they didn’t help the
one-year-old dog, who had been left outside the house, according to a lawsuit
filed in federal court: Instead, they pulled out their guns and shot Lexie
eight times.
“The only thing I’m gonna do is shoot it
anyway,” the lawsuit quotes an officer saying. “I do not like dogs.”
Such a response, animal
advocates say, is not uncommon among law enforcement officers in America who
are often ill-equipped to deal with animals in the line of duty. And now
bereaved owners like Brittany Preston, Lexie’s owner, are suing cities and
police departments, expressing outrage at what they see as an abuse of power by
police. Animal activists, meanwhile, are turning to state legislatures to
combat the problem, with demands for better police training in dealing with
pets.
There are no official tallies
of dog killings by police, but media reports suggest there are, at minimum,
dozens every year, and possibly many more. When it comes to Preston’s dog,
officials from the city of St. Clair Shores and the dog owner agree on little.
City police say the dog attacked, prompting officers to open fire in
self-defense. But the lawsuit filed by Preston cites police audio recordings to
argue that the November 2013 shooting was premeditated, prompted by officers
eager to kill a dog. Preston is suing the city for violating her Fourth
Amendment right to protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
“We want whatever it takes to
make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Christopher Olson, Preston’s lawyer.
“Before this case I wasn’t a dog shooting lawyer, but I am now.”
St. Clair Shores defended the
officers’ actions.
“The animal was only put down
after a decision was made that it was in the best interest of the residents,”
said city attorney Robert Ihrie, who is defending the city in the lawsuit.
“Sometimes police officers are in a position where they need to make very quick
decisions for the protection of themselves and others.”
The Fourth Amendment argument
gained traction in 2005, when the San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels sued the
city and the police department because officers had killed dogs during a gang
raid in 1998. A federal appeals judge found that “the Fourth Amendment forbids
the killing of a person’s dog… when that destruction is unnecessary,” and the
Hells Angels ultimately won $1.8 million in damages. In addition to the St.
Clair lawsuit, other lawsuits stemming from police shootings of dogs are being
planned or filed in Idaho, California, and Nevada.
At the same time, animal-rights
activists are lobbying police departments to implement pet training for all
officers. Several states including Illinois and Colorado have enacted measures
to reduce dog shootings, and others states are considering legislation. In 2011,
the Department of Justice published a report on dog-related police incidents,
which included advice on how to handle dogs without killing them.
“It’s much more likely that a
cop is going to encounter a dog than a terrorist, yet there’s no training,”
said Ledy Van Kavage, an attorney for the advocacy group Best Friends Animal
Society. “If you have a fear or hatred of dogs, then you shouldn’t be a police
officer, just like if you have a hatred of different social groups.”
Brian Kilcommons, a
professional dog-trainer who has trained more than 40,000 dogs and published
books on the subject, said some police officers accidentally antagonize dogs
right from the start, without even trying. “Police officers go into a situation
with full testosterone body language, trying to control the situation,” he
said. “That’s exactly what will set a dog off.” Kilcommons is developing an app
that could help police officers evaluate the best way to handle a dog,
including tips on reading body language and non-lethal strategies for
containing them. “A bag of treats goes a long way,” he said.
But Jim Crosby, a retired
Lieutenant with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in Florida who now works in
dog training, said there are sometimes cases that require police force.
“If you’re executing a
high-risk, hard-going entry with an armed suspect, the officers don’t have time
to play nice and throw cookies at the dog,” said Crosby, who was commenting on
police handling of dogs in general and not any specific case. But he emphasized
that such situations are few and far between: “Police absolutely have the right
to protect themselves against a reasonable and viable threat—but the presence
of a dog is not necessarily a reasonable or viable threat.”
Ronald Janota, a retired
Lieutenant Colonel with the Illinois State Police who now serves as an expert
witness on use of force, acknowledged that officers are often at “heightened
awareness” when confronting dogs. “If you’re the first or second through the
door, you don’t have time to put a collar on the dog if the dog is literally
lunging at you,” he said. “If you’re entering the house legally, you have the
right to protect yourself.”
Regardless of the
circumstances, a dog’s death at the hands of police can be devastating to
owners.
“People are getting married
later, if at all, people are having children later, if at all, and pets are
filling an emotional niche,” Kilcommons said. “Before, if you had a dog and it
got killed, you got another one. Now dogs are in our homes and in our hearts.
They’re not replaceable. So when they’re injured or killed, people are
retaliating.”
In St. Clair Shores, where
Lexie died, the city is fighting the lawsuit but the police department now
requires its officers to undergo animal control training.
Van Kavage said that kind of
training is crucial, even if just to instill a sense of trust in the police.
“If a cop shoots your pet, do
you think you’re ever going to trust a cop again?” she said. “To control a dog,
99% of the time you don’t need a gun. You just need to yell ‘sit!’ ‘stay!’”
Correction: The original
version of this story misidentified the person who said, “To control a dog, 99%
of the time you don’t need a gun. You just need to yell ‘sit!’ ‘stay!’” It was
Ledy Van Kavage.
