Vicki
Administrator
The gunshots caught Cynthia Ford by surprise.
On a quiet evening in April 2013, she was walking her dog and her daughter*s dogs in the hills on the outskirts of San Marcos. Jack, her daughter*s 4-year-old pit bull, ran ahead and rounded a corner.
Then Ford heard loud cracks.
She raced to the scene. “What are you doing?” she yelled at the shooters.
They were sheriff*s deputies.
Jack was one of more than 50 dogs shot by law enforcement officers in San Diego County since 2010. “Puppycide,” as some call it, occurs across the country. While no official agency has compiled comprehensive national figures on these incidents, they have spurred everything from a U.S. Department of Justice program to a “Dogs shot by police” Facebook page with more than 12,500 “likes.”
But who*s really to blame? Law enforcement officers often say that loose dogs rush them in a threatening manner. Owners often dispute that, and accuse authorities of being trigger-happy.
Last summer, North County dog advocate Robbie Benson had had enough. The day after a bystander*s video of a fatal dog shooting in Los Angeles County went viral, she sent an angry email to sheriff*s officials in San Marcos. Pointing to Jack*s death, she said a reasonable solution must be found.
Benson expected to be rejected.
Instead, Capt. Scott Ybarrondo offered to work with her.
Now, deputies in San Marcos are learning how to respond nonviolently to potentially aggressive dogs, through a pilot program aimed at reducing the number of animals killed by law enforcement. The training could be introduced to the department*s more than 2,200 deputies countywide by the end of the year.
“It just makes sense,” said Ybarrondo, who runs the San Marcos station. “No deputy wants to shoot a dog. It*s traumatic for these deputies. It*s very emotional.”
San Diego police are planning a similar education effort for their nearly 1,900 officers, as are police in Oceanside.
Thirty-one dogs have been fatally shot by deputies across the county since 2010, including six so far this year. In that same stretch, San Diego police have shot 22 dogs. Typically, authorities report, the dogs aren*t leashed and exhibit what officers see as aggressive behavior, appearing ready to attack. In April, for instance, a pack of three dogs attacked three people in Bay Terraces before police shot and killed the animals.
The training includes five 10-minute videos, released last year by the Department of Justice. The films teach officers to assess their environment, risk and the dog*s body language — as well as explaining how an officer*s approach can affect a dog*s behavior.
The videos are based on a 2011 publication developed under the auspices of the University of Illinois* Center for Public Safety and Justice, Safe Humane Chicago and the National Canine Research Council, which funded the work. The federal agency*s Community Oriented Policing office backed the effort and helped distribute the information.
“Training law enforcement in this arena is critical,” said Laurel Matthews, who helped manage the project for the Department of Justice. “When this happens, it*s a tragedy. We are not saying officers should compromise safety, but by having nonlethal options, it*s a great way to reduce the number of lethal incidents.”
The first training video has been downloaded more than 6,400 times. More than 300 DVDs have gone out, as have nearly 4,000 hard copies of the 2011 publication.
Matthews said that the most common reason officers fire a gun is to shoot an animal. “And sadly, it*s mostly dogs.”
Nationally, no one tracks dog shootings by law enforcement officers. An Atlanta TV station reported that nearly 100 dogs had been shot by officers in four metro Atlanta counties from 2010 to October 2012. The Associated Press reported that dog shootings in Milwaukee had averaged 48 a year between 2000 and 2008, but as training increased, the number dropped to 26 shootings in 2012.
Videos of police shooting dogs inspired a still-in-production documentary initially known as “Puppycide.”
“We were puzzled about why the police were acting this way,” said producer Patrick Reasonover. Internet crowdfunding raised $45,000 toward making the film, now called “Of Dogs and Men.” Reasonover hopes that when it is completed, maybe by the end of the year, the film will start a dialogue that is “honest and fair to both sides.”
Dogs are in more than one-third of American households and are often considered part of the family, said Janis Bradley of the National Canine Research Council.
The shootings are “something that we see bubbling up in communities in a way that is not good for dogs, owners, police,” Bradley said. “It*s not good for communities where there are police shootings of family pets.”
Jack*s owner, Callie Ford, is still grieving.
“It*s very, very traumatic to have your pet — part of your family — to be killed in such a tragic way,” said Ford, who provided her mother*s written account of the incident. The younger Ford, a biologist who was out of town when Jack was shot, said she had adopted him from a shelter three years before he died. She insisted that he was not an aggressive dog.
On his last day, Jack encountered deputies investigating suspicious activity in a lonely spot where a year earlier a slain woman*s body had been dumped. An official report stated that Jack charged the deputies, barking and growling.
When he was five or 10 feet away, two officers fired at least eight shots.
When Cynthia Ford dashed onto the scene, officers ordered her to contain her dogs. Two were at her feet, where they had been during the walk. She hurried them toward her truck. Then she saw Jack*s body.
“You shot Jack? Why? My God, what*s going on?” she said, crying.
In the report, one of the deputies said he believed, had they not opened fire, the pit bull would have attacked.
In the program, deputies learn to read a dog*s body language and recognize whether the animal is dangerous or just scared. The training is delivered in small doses during briefings.
Ybarrondo assigned Cpl. Dustin Nelson to work with Benson and her colleagues — including a dog behaviorist.
“At first I was apprehensive,” Nelson said. “But once I saw how easy and practical these tips are, it was amazing. … It*s really simple to interpret what the dog is saying.”
Benson has created the Dog Encounter Task Force through her nonprofit San Diego AWOL, or Animals Worthy of Life, and says other agencies have expressed interest in the training.
“It has grown so much bigger than I ever imagined, times a hundred,” she said.
In Ford*s view, this growth is essential — and lifesaving.
“If the training was spurred by Jack*s death,” she said, “and others can benefit from that and prevent (dogs) from dying and families having to grieve, some good would come from it.”
By Teri Figueroa5:07 a.m.July 16, 2014
Staff writer Peter Rowe contributed to this story.
Deputies learn how to react to aggressive dogs | UTSanDiego.com
On a quiet evening in April 2013, she was walking her dog and her daughter*s dogs in the hills on the outskirts of San Marcos. Jack, her daughter*s 4-year-old pit bull, ran ahead and rounded a corner.
Then Ford heard loud cracks.
She raced to the scene. “What are you doing?” she yelled at the shooters.
They were sheriff*s deputies.
Jack was one of more than 50 dogs shot by law enforcement officers in San Diego County since 2010. “Puppycide,” as some call it, occurs across the country. While no official agency has compiled comprehensive national figures on these incidents, they have spurred everything from a U.S. Department of Justice program to a “Dogs shot by police” Facebook page with more than 12,500 “likes.”
But who*s really to blame? Law enforcement officers often say that loose dogs rush them in a threatening manner. Owners often dispute that, and accuse authorities of being trigger-happy.
Last summer, North County dog advocate Robbie Benson had had enough. The day after a bystander*s video of a fatal dog shooting in Los Angeles County went viral, she sent an angry email to sheriff*s officials in San Marcos. Pointing to Jack*s death, she said a reasonable solution must be found.
Benson expected to be rejected.
Instead, Capt. Scott Ybarrondo offered to work with her.
Now, deputies in San Marcos are learning how to respond nonviolently to potentially aggressive dogs, through a pilot program aimed at reducing the number of animals killed by law enforcement. The training could be introduced to the department*s more than 2,200 deputies countywide by the end of the year.
“It just makes sense,” said Ybarrondo, who runs the San Marcos station. “No deputy wants to shoot a dog. It*s traumatic for these deputies. It*s very emotional.”
San Diego police are planning a similar education effort for their nearly 1,900 officers, as are police in Oceanside.
Thirty-one dogs have been fatally shot by deputies across the county since 2010, including six so far this year. In that same stretch, San Diego police have shot 22 dogs. Typically, authorities report, the dogs aren*t leashed and exhibit what officers see as aggressive behavior, appearing ready to attack. In April, for instance, a pack of three dogs attacked three people in Bay Terraces before police shot and killed the animals.
The training includes five 10-minute videos, released last year by the Department of Justice. The films teach officers to assess their environment, risk and the dog*s body language — as well as explaining how an officer*s approach can affect a dog*s behavior.
The videos are based on a 2011 publication developed under the auspices of the University of Illinois* Center for Public Safety and Justice, Safe Humane Chicago and the National Canine Research Council, which funded the work. The federal agency*s Community Oriented Policing office backed the effort and helped distribute the information.
“Training law enforcement in this arena is critical,” said Laurel Matthews, who helped manage the project for the Department of Justice. “When this happens, it*s a tragedy. We are not saying officers should compromise safety, but by having nonlethal options, it*s a great way to reduce the number of lethal incidents.”
The first training video has been downloaded more than 6,400 times. More than 300 DVDs have gone out, as have nearly 4,000 hard copies of the 2011 publication.
Matthews said that the most common reason officers fire a gun is to shoot an animal. “And sadly, it*s mostly dogs.”
Nationally, no one tracks dog shootings by law enforcement officers. An Atlanta TV station reported that nearly 100 dogs had been shot by officers in four metro Atlanta counties from 2010 to October 2012. The Associated Press reported that dog shootings in Milwaukee had averaged 48 a year between 2000 and 2008, but as training increased, the number dropped to 26 shootings in 2012.
Videos of police shooting dogs inspired a still-in-production documentary initially known as “Puppycide.”
“We were puzzled about why the police were acting this way,” said producer Patrick Reasonover. Internet crowdfunding raised $45,000 toward making the film, now called “Of Dogs and Men.” Reasonover hopes that when it is completed, maybe by the end of the year, the film will start a dialogue that is “honest and fair to both sides.”
Dogs are in more than one-third of American households and are often considered part of the family, said Janis Bradley of the National Canine Research Council.
The shootings are “something that we see bubbling up in communities in a way that is not good for dogs, owners, police,” Bradley said. “It*s not good for communities where there are police shootings of family pets.”
Jack*s owner, Callie Ford, is still grieving.
“It*s very, very traumatic to have your pet — part of your family — to be killed in such a tragic way,” said Ford, who provided her mother*s written account of the incident. The younger Ford, a biologist who was out of town when Jack was shot, said she had adopted him from a shelter three years before he died. She insisted that he was not an aggressive dog.
On his last day, Jack encountered deputies investigating suspicious activity in a lonely spot where a year earlier a slain woman*s body had been dumped. An official report stated that Jack charged the deputies, barking and growling.
When he was five or 10 feet away, two officers fired at least eight shots.
When Cynthia Ford dashed onto the scene, officers ordered her to contain her dogs. Two were at her feet, where they had been during the walk. She hurried them toward her truck. Then she saw Jack*s body.
“You shot Jack? Why? My God, what*s going on?” she said, crying.
In the report, one of the deputies said he believed, had they not opened fire, the pit bull would have attacked.
In the program, deputies learn to read a dog*s body language and recognize whether the animal is dangerous or just scared. The training is delivered in small doses during briefings.
Ybarrondo assigned Cpl. Dustin Nelson to work with Benson and her colleagues — including a dog behaviorist.
“At first I was apprehensive,” Nelson said. “But once I saw how easy and practical these tips are, it was amazing. … It*s really simple to interpret what the dog is saying.”
Benson has created the Dog Encounter Task Force through her nonprofit San Diego AWOL, or Animals Worthy of Life, and says other agencies have expressed interest in the training.
“It has grown so much bigger than I ever imagined, times a hundred,” she said.
In Ford*s view, this growth is essential — and lifesaving.
“If the training was spurred by Jack*s death,” she said, “and others can benefit from that and prevent (dogs) from dying and families having to grieve, some good would come from it.”
By Teri Figueroa5:07 a.m.July 16, 2014
Staff writer Peter Rowe contributed to this story.
Deputies learn how to react to aggressive dogs | UTSanDiego.com
