Ddavis wrote:Cops are fucking stupid. They walk into a yard and a dog starts barking/growling so they put 3 caps in it's head? There's defense strategies to prevent being attacked from dogs that's not killing them with a gun. The dog was just protecting it's owners property, so kill it? What is next..
I must be a moron then. What strategy do you propose though without all the facts? I can tell you shit doesn't always go down the way we'd like it to. So many variables as to what could have led up to the shooting. As unfortunate as it is that the shooting of this dog happened, why do people feel it necessary to automatically want to crucify this cop? Lets look at what we do know.
1)The officer probably should not have been in the yard (but read point #2 before making a decision). This is only due to the fact that the yard was enclosed with a "privacy" fence rather than a chain link or no fence at all. The difference is that the latter 2 fall under the protection of the "Open-fields doctrine" which allows officers to enter your yard without consent or a warrant. The "privacy" fence and even other steps taken by the owner to maintain privacy of the yard does not fall under the provision and would require consent or a warrant (with stipulations) ie if there is a crime that has taken place, is taking place or if in pursuit etc... no warrant or permission is needed.
2) The officer WAS looking for a missing child. Again, as unfortunate as this is lets keep some perspective here. He wasn't out there just to be "nosy" or for shits and giggles. If this was your child, you would want the police to look in every nook and cranny to find your kid. Turns out the kid was in his own home but for all we know the child may have wandered off into this yard and to skip it could have been dangerous or prolonged the finding of this child. The officer did attempt to make contact with the resident via knocking on the door prior to entering the yard so some courtesy was given here, he didn't just hop a fence. In a perfect world more steps could have been taken however it's not a perfect world and it would have come at the expense of time which is critical when locating a missing child.
3) The officers history. Aside from the intense screening it takes to even get into a position of being hired in law enforcement ie. a thorough background check, a 6-8 hr psych exam where you are grilled by a psychologist in the attempt of "breaking" you and finally getting into the academy where you receive the many hours of training in so many areas that your life and the lives of others will count on. This officer has gone through all of that. He also received an award for his service during the Trolley Square Mall shooting back in 2007 where a gunman killed 5 bystanders and injured 4 others.
4) I can go on all day about situations where an officer is fully justified in use of deadly force involving people and animals. They may not be relevant to this particular situation but they do exist. The fact is that we don't know exactly what took place in the yard and the level of "threat" the dog imposed on the officer if any justifiably. I can say from personal experience that in my area I encounter dogs all the time. I certainly do not shoot them but they do pose a threat that varies on the situation. Under normal circumstances I'll ask the owner to "put" the dog away so that the animal is removed from the equation and I can do my job more effectively and safely. It's not that I'm afraid of dogs (I've owned and been around dogs for most of my life) or that every dog presents a threat but I tend to err on the side of safety and assume that they do. If you get bit and the vaccinations aren't up to date the animal will have to be "put" down in order to be tested for rabies as there is no way of testing an animal while it is alive. So for the protection of the animal and myself I act accordingly. There have been 2 incidents where I have had to use deadly force and hope that I don't need to again but this isn't a perfect world.
It just seems as though everyone jumps on the hate wagon before looking at all the aspects of a situation not that they are all listed here or known at this time. Not specifically directed at anyone here but I guarantee that a lot of people would not even have the balls to make it through a day doing what cops do. Not saying that out of arrogance at all but just saying some people are not meant for it and that's fine. But be thankful that there are people that can do it. As Byron basically said, a lot of people hate the cops until they need one. There are as with any profession, people that don't deserve the responsibility entrusted to them but you can't really lump them all into one category of being all bad. Those that violate that responsibility and trust SHOULD and NEED to be held accountable, but lets not jump the gun. As much as we should care about animals lets never get to the point of being willing to "sacrifice" the life of a human let alone a child over that of a animal. Again, too bad this all happened the way it did and I really do feel for the owner and can understand his anger and frustration. #endrant
