PETA has written to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner suggesting that police dogs should be phased out and they cite four reasons which are summarised in the infographic below.
3 reasons why polic dogs should be phased out by Michael BroadThe first point is an obvious one that is sometimes overlooked: consent. Dogs don’t give humans consent to put them in acute danger while protecting humans. PETA put it in the following words: “Unlike human officers, they [dogs] do not choose to enlist or put their lives on the line.”
Some people might see it as silly that a dog does not give consent as they can’t. But it is a fundamental part of the human-dog relationship. Normally the dog is protected by the caregiver but for working dogs such as police dogs the opposite applies; the dogs are placed in danger. It is the dogs’ role to put their lives on the line to protect humans. The dogs don’t question this as they are trained for it by the alpha dog, the police training officers and handlers.
But if there are suitable alternatives to using dogs, placing them in harm’s way without their consent becomes untenable.
I am not going to propose alternatives because that would be the role of the police but one thought comes to mind: robot dogs. They have been developed to a sufficient level to make their use workable and indeed some are already in use in security roles as I understand it.
The second point is also obvious. Police dogs are deliberately placed in harm’s way in order to protect human police officers. The dog is a second-class citizen in the police force. They can be regarded as expendable despite being in an affectionate relationship with their handler.
The third point is that the police dog has been mistreated by police handlers. PETA said (on their website): “In addition to the risk of serious injury while working, dogs used by the police are vulnerable because they often come second to other policing priorities. In 2019, a 5-year-old dog named Ivy died after being left in a swelteringly hot car for over two and a half hours with another dog while their handling officers underwent training.”
And fourthly, police dogs are bred and trained by the police in the UK. “Each year, hundreds of puppies are bred into existence to be used by the police.” Some don’t make it as police dogs to which you have to add those dogs that are placed into retirement. Those that “are unable to find a permanent home with their former handler, must then be rehomed – in competition with the over 100,000 homeless dogs in the UK at any given time.”
Quotes from PETA. They make some excellent points. More humane alternatives to police dogs should be found.
MORE: Body cam picture of police officer’s baseless arrest of elderly TNR volunteer is brilliant – this is a high-profile story from the US. It is an interesting story of police malpractice.
