The American Spectator

William| 6.16.09 @ 3:28AM

Dogs, hell. Every year tens of thousands of citizens have their doors smashed in and find themselves up against the wall on warrants that were improperly sworn, had inaccurate (false) information, or got the freaking address wrong.

Often they are served in dodgy, scabrous neighborhoods where the residents assume with reason that the breakin is a criminal intrusion - always there is trauma, sometimes there is self defense which usually leads to the residnet being killed or charged.

I detest narcotics, and I would have no qualms with executing distributors of illegal narcotics. But what we are doing is not working. Your article is not really about dog abuse, it is about 'war on drugs' excess.

Crusader| 6.16.09 @ 8:26AM

I'm sure the cops were in absolute FEAR FOR THEIR LIFE when that crazy, 8-pound Jack Russel Terrier came bounding around the corner.

NavyBrat| 6.16.09 @ 9:00AM

I'd be ENRAGED if the cops killed my dog for some "perceived" reason. Look at what Marcus Luttrell did chasing after some punk kids killed HIS dog. He almost killed THEM (too bad he didn't). A dog is a family member. Anyone who has owned one knows this to be true. What these cops have done, in my eyes, is just as irresponsible & reprehensible as it would be if random family members & neighbors were getting blasted for "perceived" reasons.

Sean| 6.16.09 @ 9:32AM

The police are out of control throughout the US. Just take a look at the videos of OHP recently pulling over an ambulance with a patient. You will see the typical unprofessional attitude of police in the US.

Jerry| 6.16.09 @ 9:43AM

The issue is really not dogs. The issue is that power has been so concentrated in the hands of police, and that without restraint, that the police departments across the nation have transformed from the Mayberry Sheriff's department to paramilitary organizations filled with sociopathic thieves and murderers.

One would think that a reasonable society that really intended for law enforcement to be a tool for safety would place great restrictions on the use of deadly force. The standard ought to be higher for government-authorized use of force, in other words, than for the general public.

That this is not the case indicates that somewhere along the way policing ceased to be about "to protect and to serve" and began to be all about terrorizing the populace.

Police in modern America are no longer due our respect, nor are they deserving any longer of the benefit of the doubt....

Brad Mason| 6.16.09 @ 10:34AM

Sad story, but I really can't see how this is a national tragedy. Of course the usual suspects, dope-smokers, etc., will bemoan the police state in America, but I'm guessing policing in this country has never been better.

William| 6.16.09 @ 11:00AM

Jerry wrote: "Police in modern America are no longer due our respect, nor are they deserving any longer of the benefit of the doubt.... "

This is a huge overstatement. The same day this dog was shot to bits thousands of police in hundreds of city did their jobs in a professional manner. Sadly, the _trend_ is downhill, and largely due to all the flak jacketed penis problem Barney Fifes who are emulating the murderer, Lon Horiuchi and others of his ilk.

Brad - your guess is wrong, and reveals that you are ignorant, a fool, a Statist or some combination of these.

Crusader| 6.16.09 @ 11:22AM

Just looking at how the local po-po dresses is an indication of what they think they are. Gone are the black slacks with blue piping, blue shirts with badge and hat. In are the paramilitary fatigues and combat boots.

Also fairly new is the rank structure. When my old man was a cop you had sergeants, LTs, captains. Now you have privates, corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, majors, colonels, etc. You have small-town sheriffs wearing 4-star general insignia on their collars. These guys think they're General Patton or something, when in reality most cops are aptly described in the following joke:

Guy gets stopped by a cop hiding in a speed trap. Cop asks why he was going so fast. Guy says he needs to get to his job, it's very important. Cop asks what it is? Guy says he's a "rectum stretcher." Says he helps people who are constipated by wiggleing a couple fingers in the ol' rectum and slowly stretching until sometimes he gets it stretched out to 6 feet. Cop asks indignantly, "so what do you do with a 6-foot a**hole?"

Without missing a beat the guy replies, "Give it a radar gun and put in behind a billboard."

Steven Schmitt| 6.16.09 @ 11:24AM

"Completely out of control" is a wee bit overblown. They are certainly more likely to shoot a dog now in response to the increase in people TRAINING their dogs to attack police. They have no legal requirement to ascertain the friendliness of a dog before killing it. Nor should they. It's just a dog.

L. Ross| 6.16.09 @ 12:06PM

Navybrat:

I love dogs, I've been raised with dogs, I've had dogs my entire life. I find the idea of police coming onto my property, shooting my dog, and getting away with it to be very, very offensive. Evidentally, they think that dogs should act like people, bow their head, and say yessir, or the dog should be shot.

That said, to equate the life of a dog with the life of a person, to even put it in the same general ballpark as a human life is shear lunacy. I'm sorry, Navybrat, but you are way out of bounds here.

Quin| 6.16.09 @ 1:21PM

Shawan is right, as is Radley. This is a growing problem, and it is part and parcel of a problem of WAY too many overhyped SWAT teams being sent in to places that do NOT require such tactics. I'm all for a strong police force. I'm also for a police force that self-limits its tactics. These examples cited here should be treated as fireable offenses for these police officers. The dog killings are an outrage, and uncivilized.

Patio furniture| 7.2.09 @ 9:00PM

This is merely one of the ways our companion animals are being weeded out. Look at what the is going on within the AR movement. Due to the political push from big groups with lots of money, states are giving too much power to animal control officers, animals are being taken away and euthanized without due cause. There have been several cases of police shooting pets local to me when the dogs were on their own property, fenced and truly without any way to defend themselves. It's sad.

seodofollows| 8.26.10 @ 11:35AM

law forced to shoot an attacking, vicious dog in the line of duty, but it has bag manufacturer increasingly clear over the last two years that police forces

Kindle Case Blog| 11.3.10 @ 8:30PM

Police officers are scared of dogs - plain and simple. They feel that if they don't shott that the dog will take them down in some way. Utterly Bizarre!