What do you do when a police officer breaks the law?

[SDK9Handler]

I'm an amatuer medical service dog trainer and handler. Recently, one of my online medical service dog handler buddies reported being threated repeatedly in an airport by several members of the sheriff's K9 unit. The service dog K9 handler had a small 13 pound service dog. All behavior was reportedly professional on the medical service dog and handler's side. Allegedly, the officers repeatedly came up to this person and asked what the service dog's tasks were, then warned the handler that their police K9's liked to attack small dogs that were not in crates; even if they are on a leash. I find this behavior appaling! I'm sure that all you other K9 handlers police or not, also find this behavior to be disgraceful. My question to you is, what do you do when it's the police officer(s) who are breaking the law? You can't dial 911; the police are already there. So who do you call? I'd hate to see a few rotten apples, make the entire police K9 community look bad. Internal affairs comes to mind, but who does internal affairs for the sherrif's office?
SDK9Handler

[jeffyc]

The person would who was "harassed" would have to contact the officers agency and file a report.

On another note, when I was a K9 handler, my dog never showed any aggression to another dog. But if their was a raccoon around then watch out :D

[Citicop]

I'm an amatuer medical service dog trainer and handler. Recently, one of my online medical service dog handler buddies reported being threated repeatedly in an airport by several members of the sheriff's K9 unit. The service dog K9 handler had a small 13 pound service dog. All behavior was reportedly professional on the medical service dog and handler's side. Allegedly, the officers repeatedly came up to this person and asked what the service dog's tasks were, then warned the handler that their police K9's liked to attack small dogs that were not in crates; even if they are on a leash. I find this behavior appaling! I'm sure that all you other K9 handlers police or not, also find this behavior to be disgraceful. My question to you is, what do you do when it's the police officer(s) who are breaking the law? You can't dial 911; the police are already there. So who do you call? I'd hate to see a few rotten apples, make the entire police K9 community look bad. Internal affairs comes to mind, but who does internal affairs for the sherrif's office?
SDK9Handler

The behavior you describe here MIGHT be unprofessional, depending on how the warning was issued... But there is nothing against the law about saying those things.

If the dogs are known to attack service animals, and they said nothing, and one of them got attacked, I bet you'd be here complaining that they said nothing to you...

Citicop.

[SDK9Handler]

Thank you for your reply. I willl advise them as such. However, what if the superviser is in on it. There was more than one K9 officer that behaved this way. It may well be the attitude of that particular K9 group. If going to the super has no effect, then what do you do?

I know what you mean about raccons and squirls. My dog "Storm" is trained to "leave it", but if she sees a raccon or a squirl and I don't, I could get jerked until I can issue the command; although I've got to really not be paying attention for that to happen. Storm's body language usally gives her away before her prey drive can kick in, and I can correct her. Small wild animals are understandable to chase, but never to attack. No matter what the dog's profession, we must always remember that they are dogs! They get into trouble like any other dog, when they aren't working. The thing I find most dispicable is that any police K9 officer would even threaten to allow their K9 to think for themselves. No dog handler that has public access rights has any business threatening the innocent public. Service dogs are held to very high standards, police K9's are held to even higher standards. I have the upmost respect for police K9's and I hope to be involved with training them one day.
SDK9Handler

[GoDirectly2Jail]

Thank you for your reply. I willl advise them as such. However, what if the superviser is in on it. There was more than one K9 officer that behaved this way. It may well be the attitude of that particular K9 group. If going to the super has no effect, then what do you do?

Then you can make a complaint to the department Professional Standards Unit. They will investigate the complaint, and if it is deemed to have merit, appropriate action will be taken.

[BJJVad]

This reads a little more "theatrical" than real life. Supervisor's are not "in on it" as "The Shield" or other weekday cop drama's may suggest. If your friend is feeling harassed, then your friend needs to file a complaint with the department. Without us having been there, we cannot tell you who is at fault and who is not.

From the initial post I can only assume we are getting the 3rd spin of this story through a broken drama filter.

As for your question,

what if the superviser is in on it. There was more than one K9 officer that behaved this way. It may well be the attitude of that particular K9 group. If going to the super has no effect, then what do you do?

..you do what you always do when a crime hasn't occurred. Nothing. If your friend is so compelled to this being looked into, he/she needs to write a letter to whoever over sees the sheriff's office. (Board of Supervisors)

[SDK9Handler]

Bjjvad,
First of all I don't watch "The sheild". I said the Super, because that's been my experience. I've had to talk to other cops' "super" when they walked on my civil rights telling me to just give people the documentation for my disabilites for service dog access next time (which is against the law to ask for); in reference to a service dog access denial.
Yes, this is a 3rd party spin, since this issue was brought up in my yahoo ot-adogs (owner trained assistance dogs) group. I'm trying to help this person. They didn't know what to do. Not everyone knows the law or is as smart as I am. As for a law being broken, I bet if I threatened that my dog would bite your dog or any other law enforcement officer's dog, you'd have me up on charges. It's no different when a cop does it; in fact it's worse when that cop is representing his agency and other K9 officers. It gives cops a bad rep; I frown on giving cops a bad rep. My uncle is a retired police chief. I'll be happy to cut and paste the post from ot-adogs if you'd rather see it in the first person. Excuse me for trying to help someone.
SDK9Handler

[Citicop]

Bjjvad,
First of all I don't watch "The sheild". I said the Super, because that's been my experience. I've had to talk to other cops' "super" when they walked on my civil rights telling me to just give people the documentation for my disabilites for service dog access next time (which is against the law to ask for); in reference to a service dog access denial.
Yes, this is a 3rd party spin, since this issue was brought up in my yahoo ot-adogs (owner trained assistance dogs) group. I'm trying to help this person. They didn't know what to do. Not everyone knows the law or is as smart as I am. As for a law being broken, I bet if I threatened that my dog would bite your dog or any other law enforcement officer's dog, you'd have me up on charges. It's no different when a cop does it; in fact it's worse when that cop is representing his agency and other K9 officers. It gives cops a bad rep; I frown on giving cops a bad rep. My uncle is a retired police chief. I'll be happy to cut and paste the post from ot-adogs if you'd rather see it in the first person. Excuse me for trying to help someone.
SDK9Handler

Charges for WHAT?

If you have a leashed dog, and so do I, and you tell me that your dog is prone to attack other animals, then I keep my dog away.

If your dog *actually* bites my dog, then animal control gets involved. If you ORDER your dog to attack me or my dog, THEN you go to jail.

Warning someone about an animal is not a threat. You seem like a hypersensitive activist who wants to stand on a street corner and yell about your 'rights' and how the cops violate(d) them.

Great. You have a right to do that. But this is not the most sympathetic corner to your views.

Citicop.

[BJJVad]

Being as smart as you are, you should already have known what to do. You are obviously so smart you over looked the thought of sending a political letter in regards to an accusation of misconduct of an officer and his k-9.

I know how you can help him. Just maybe you can represent him in court with hearsay, make believe and fairy tales in hand. Then you can call in your uncle as an expert in hearsay. I mean he is a retired police chief after all.. :rolleyes:

The dog never bit anyone, or any other animal. There is only hearsay from an unidentified anonymous person over an internet forum. You want to help him? Why don't you pass on some of that expert advice that your brilliant mind can come up with..

Apparently I am too dumb to help you any further.. Good day..

[danninator]

Half the time I feel like "these types" actually want police attention but then get upset when its not the positive type they desired.

Why do I think you walked in with bdu's and a polo with "K9" on the back. and then quickly b-lined it towards the first k-9 officer you saw to show your animals training?

Or instead of you perhaps the person who you say originally posted.

[SDK9Handler]

Citicop,
I'm not a hypersensitive activist. I am however, an activist of Service dog rights. As I read the ADA, it is unlawful to interfere with a service dog; . This dog was marked as a service dog in a bright pink uniform. The continuous interferience of these officers into what the dog's job is is interfereing with a service dog team. The only thing, according to the ADA, that a person including a police officer can ask is "Is this a service dog?" They went beyond that, and therefore did break the law. Reference the US Department of Justice ADA web site. Title 3. or ADA business brief reguarding service animals.
I was always under the impression that making threats that involve the harm of another is a crime. I suppose I should have learned I was wrong when the psyco who murdered my nephew (Max Brustein, Plano, TX, Oct. 12, 2008, 6am) made terroristic threats to kill my nephew and the police couldn't do anything. I'm sorry if I've offeneded anyone. I really am just trying to help a fellow SD handler. This group can be very touchy. We are used to having to fight for everything we get. It's very disheartening when you have a service dog access denial, you call the police to document your case so that you can sue the individuals via the DOJ, and the police don't even know the laws reguarding service dog access. This may not be everywhere, but suposedly, these cops that gave this girl a really hard time, warned her, they were supposedly none to nice about it. These cops were at the very least, very unprofessional. A simple please keep your dog at a distance from the police K9s for your safety would have been far more appropriate.
SDK9Handler
P.S. My nephew wanted to be a police officer. He likely saved the life of his friends that night; despite the fact that he was being a very bad boy that night. None of your jobs are easy. I know that. I'm not trying to pick a fight. I don't appriciate being accused of things, when I only came here to get answers. It shouldn't be your concern whether or not it really happened as I'm only asking for advice. Advice I plan on passing onto the person it happened to and letting them deal with it. Don't be so dang touchy.

[SDK9Handler]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone can post suggestions on airport protocol
when traveling with your service dog. My husband is in a wheelchair
and we traveled to Florida last month via West Palm Beach airport.
Mitzi, his service dog, went with us. However, she gets terrible
flight anxiety and so our vet has prescribed a tranquilizer to take
the edge off during the flight. It does not knock her out, but she
gets semi-groggy for several hours, which helps to keep her calm
during the flight.

Our experience at West Palm Beach airport; the last few times we
traveled we encountered a sheriff's officer patroling the airport
with a vizsla security dog. On each ocassion the officer approached
us and asked us, "what services does that dog perform?" We responded
that she is a mobility assistance dog trained to retrieve items for
my husband. He then proceeded to warn us, in not such a nice tone,
(because of Mitzi's size (13lbs)) that we ought to be very careful
because the other sheriffs officers with german shepard's have been
known to attack little dogs that were not crated.

We were appalled, speechless and a bit concerned for Mitzi's well-
being. Let me say, that when in public Mitzi is always well-marked
with her bright-pink service dog vest, so as not to cause any
confusion.

Again, while going to the baggage area, another officer stopped us
and asked, "what tasks does that dog perform?" Another officer asked
us if we had documentation for Mitzi.

I am now a bit confused, as one individual at the airport indicated
it is the officers job to inquire about what tasks a service dog
performs.

The whole incident was disconcerting, especially with Mitzi being
very groggy from her medication at the time, although not noticibly
so by anyone else but my husband and I. Any advice on how to handle
these inquiries in the future.

[BJJVad]

Suggestions have been made. Posting the original source does not change the coarse of action needed.

"The whole incident was disconcerting, especially with Mitzi being
very groggy from her medication at the time, although not noticibly
so by anyone else but my husband and I"

[Group9]

The whole incident was disconcerting, .........

I can relate to that after trying to read your posts, feeling somewhat disconcerted myself.

[Legoate]

Citicop,
I'm not a hypersensitive activist. I am however, an activist of Service dog rights. As I read the ADA, it is unlawful to interfere with a service dog; . This dog was marked as a service dog in a bright pink uniform. The continuous interferience of these officers into what the dog's job is is interfereing with a service dog team. The only thing, according to the ADA, that a person including a police officer can ask is "Is this a service dog?" They went beyond that, and therefore did break the law.

And what actually qualifies a dog as a service dog? Can I slap a pink sweater on my pug and it suddenly becomes a service dog? What if I teach it to bring me beers from the frig because I'm too fat (I mean disabled) to get up and get them myself? Does Paris Hilton's dog qualify as a service dog? I've seen it wearing sweaters.... How about Mr. Winkle?

Gosh...guess I've asked more than "Is this a service dog?". I'm breaking the law. Do you need to call my supervisor? He may be in on it, I wouldn't bother fighting the vast LEO anti-service dog conspiracy- you'll only find yourself living a pathetic life as a disgruntled "service dog activist".