[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Long Beach K-9 Officer killed/kind of long
- From: WLFHRTGSD@xxxxxxx
- To: louroshepherds@xxxxxxxxx, GrnRam415@xxxxxxx, showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 12:59:53 EDT
In a message dated 10/4/05 10:18:53 AM, louroshepherds@xxxxxxxxx writes:
<< My question is why was the dog sent in harms way when they had the
suspect cornered under a porch and new he was armed. Poor judgement,
wrong decision. It ended in a loss of a good cop(dog)
Louie
>>
On top of all else on the list yesterday, by the time I got to the post about
the murder of a K9 officer, I was feeling pretty sickened and depressed. I
have nothing but grief and sympathy for the K9 officer, his human partner, and
the entire police force. So PLEASE bear that in mind as I respond here....
I am currently enrolled in a local "Citizen's Police Academy." Last week we
experienced "shoot or don't shoot" scenarios -- both on a simulator (it has
another name, but to call it a simulator works well enough) and via role
playing
in the classroom. Point being that even when you know a suspect is armed,
the time to REACT once they decide to level their weapon on you is slower than
the time it took them to ACT - and you are D-E-A-D. If they are even a
half-decent shot, (and most of them aren't) by the time you hear the "crack" of
a
shot being fired that bullet has already long left the chamber.
The police have to play by a VERY strict set of rules, but the criminal
doesn't. The criminal isn't going to fire a single shot from a revolver and
wait &
see -- in one of my tries on the simulator, I had made a traffic stop and was
aware that the person in the vehicle was probably dangerous, so I DID have my
weapon drawn, but did not have my finger on the trigger (a whole other area
of police liability). Even with a heightened sense of awareness that I WAS
facing someone who was probably dangerous, I was still surprised when the
suspect
opened the car door, rolled out and began firing at me with an AK 47. I
basically had started to fire when I saw the door opening. I don't know if I
got
hit, but I hit my suspect in the left kneecap and the groin. The computer
registered my shots as "hits" but not disabling or lethal -- although the men
in
the class basically agreed the groin shot would most definitely be disabling!
<G>
But in firing at my "suspect," I had opened fire in a residential area with 2
small children crossing the street in front of the suspects car. I never
even noticed them! (I also probably brought down a couple squirrels in the
tree
I hit.)
With each passing week the class becomes more interactive. This week we do
"traffic stops" -- the officers who teach the class will be the "violators" and
the class will be the "officers." Since I've already seen, on videotape,
just how horrifying and deadly a "routine" traffic stop can be, I have no doubt
the officers will throw us every curve they can -- after all, they've been
there and done it.
We still have the K9 presentation coming up later in the session, and our K9
force consists of GSD's. In my class, we have asked a lot of questions and
the officers do answer them. I can ask the question Louie posed -- why was the
dog sent into harms way.
I'm sure that anyone on the list who is, or has been, a police officer, can
answer the question with their gnarl knowledge.
Again, let me be perfectly clear that this news is truly very sad for
everyone on the police force, the dog community, and I'm sure is horribly
devastating
to the human officer and their family. I'm pretty sure most, if not all, K9
officers live with their human partners. WE all know the pain of losing a dog.
But please do not "Monday morning Quarterback" this tragedy....we do not know
what circumstances forced the decision to send the dog in.
If any of you ever have opportunity to enroll in this kind of course, believe
me you will come away much richer for the experience.
Kelly Busse
Wolfheart German Shepherds
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