All bark and no bite! Fury as new bill proposes banning California’s ‘racist’ police dogs from being used to chase criminals or crowd control purposes

• Dogs may be outlawed in the bill banning them from biting suspects is passed 
• Proposal claims ‘K-9’ dogs are ‘racist’ because majority of suspects are black 
• The proposed move is said to have left police officers in the states outraged  

California’s police dogs may soon be all bark and no bite if a bill banning them from biting suspects is passed into law.

In a move that has outraged police officers, the proposal claims ‘K-9’ dogs are ‘racist’ because the majority of suspects who are bitten are black. And supporters of the bill say the dogs ‘trigger’ black Americans because the animals were used in the days of slavery to hunt down runaway slaves.

Assemblyman Corey Jackson, who authored the bill, said: ‘This aims to end a deeply racialised and harmful practice that has been a mainstay in America’s history of racial bias and violence against black Americans and people of colour. The use of police canines has inflicted brutal violence and lifelong trauma on black Americans.’

Rick Callender from the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People said: ‘Police canines have roots in slavery and have been used as tools of oppression for black, brown and other communities of colour.

‘With this bill, we sever ties with the terrorising past and move towards a brighter future.’

In a move that has outraged police officers, the proposal claims ‘K-9’ dogs are ‘racist’ because the majority of suspects who are bitten are black

Black and Latino people account for two-thirds of use-of-force cases involving police dogs in California.

Under the law, police dogs would not be able to chase criminals or be used in crowd control. But they would be allowed to sniff out explosives, and take part in search and rescue, and in ‘narcotics detection that does not involve biting’.

Opposing the bill, Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni said: ‘These K-9 officers are vital to the safety of our human officers. They’re vital to searching buildings and they are vital to keeping our community safe because the people these dogs are going after are violent. 

‘These are criminals who have committed serious crimes and people who are not following the commands of law enforcement and they’re often resisting police officers. This will reduce safety for police officers and increase the likelihood that officers will need to use force.’

Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama said: ‘They [police dogs] have the ability to smell 10,000 times better than humans. K-9s are an invaluable asset.’

One police K-9 handler, who asked not to be named, said: ‘These dogs are heroes. They run into places and take down bad guys who very often have guns. These dogs are as highly trained as their handlers.

‘To prevent K-9s doing their job will mean bad guys won’t be taken down in a controlled way and that can only lead to more people being shot and killed – both law enforcement and suspects.’

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