Canine Legal: Grin and 'Bare' it?

Issue 8 | March/April 2018 | $9.95

Chicago Police Mass Transit Explosive Detection Canine Unit

2018

Detector Dog Training Obedience to Odor Methodology

Canine Legal GRIN AND ‘BARE’ IT?

By John M. Peters, Attorney at Law

O

ne of the topics covered in my classes is K9 and public relations.

When handlers see this in the class syllabus, it produces some curious expressions. Handlers want to know, what does that have to do with doing my job?

A Problem to Confront

It is no secret that K9 handlers pride themselves on their dogs’ toughness. In the view of some handlers, the more teeth their dog shows, the more saliva he sprays, and the nastier his bark, the better. For some it is an extension of their own toughness or their desire to be seen as such. For others it represents hard justice in the battle between good and evil. Yet, what is gained for the K9 profession if the public cannot distinguish between the two?

A recent special on National Public Television appears on YouTube under the title, “Can Gory Police Dog Arrests Survive the Age of Video?”

The seven-minute video features extreme cases of K9 use of force on citizens who were either innocent of any crime or unarmed misdemeanor suspects. K9 handlers watching this may be as shocked as civilians are. Some handlers will protest that in selectively featuring the most extreme bite cases, the media is falsely suggesting that these are representative of K9 use generally.

That reaction is certainly valid.

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Yet, some of these same handlers think displays of over-thetop aggression, whether in training or on the street, is “hype.”

An entire industry has developed to cater to this mentality.

Magazines put the snarling K9 on every cover to draw attention.

Companies print T-shirts with various pictures depicting the image of full-blown K9 aggression usually accompanied by some Armageddon-like catchphrase. Another produces muzzles that are exaggerated fang-bearing masks like the nose art on a WWII P-40 fighter plane.

Some handlers privately brag about how bad their K9 is, the damage it did to a helper in training or to a suspect on the street. Of course, most are careful enough not to display this attitude in public, but as the PBS special points out, audio and video are making that harder to conceal.

Enter the Courtroom

What does any of this have to do with legal? More than you might think. The image that you portray to the public regarding your K9 and how it is used has a direct impact upon how the public views K9 units. First, judges and jurors come to their jobs with views imprinted in their hard drives based upon their own life experiences. You can pretend that they are neutral. You can also pretend Santa Claus exists. Second, judges and jurors will react to what is put before them during the trial. In a case claiming excessive force in the use of a K9, all relevant evidence is generally admissible.

That evidence could include photos or video of you firing up your dog to impress someone or you boasting about something overboard that you did with your dog. You never know when someone’s cell phone has captured a candid moment or the image(s) was accidentally passed around to an unintended recipient. It could be the kind of body cam or patrol car video that was featured in the PBS special mentioned above. Perhaps you were on the cover of a police K9 magazine holding back or — worse yet — encouraging a display of extreme aggression by your K9. It could include recorded conversations of you bragging about how your dog “tore that mf’er up.” In the case of Campbell v City of Springboro, 700 F 3d 779 (6th Cir 2012), the defendant K9 handler was recorded making the following comment over his own mic before releasing his K9 to locate and seize a teenage girl who had escaped arrest for … underage drinking: “Jeez Louise. [unintelligible] this bitch . . . I’ve had it,” and “[s]he’s gonna get a nice rude awakening here in one second or two, . . . it’s not gonna feel very good.” Id at 785.

All these things that you thought were so bad ass at the time have now come back to haunt you as the plaintiff’s attorney marks them as exhibits and puts them before a stunned jury.

Now they are no longer bad ass, just bad news!

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Go Directly to Jail

Using your K9 to satisfy some misplaced thrill-seeker gene within you can have even worse consequences. Officer Stephanie Mohr of the Prince George’s County Police Department was charged under the federal civil rights statute with deliberately putting her dog on two unarmed and compliant individuals who were not even charged with a crime. The case against Officer Mohr included the testimony of two other officers present at the scene who testified that Officer Mohr requested consent from the officer in charge to let her dog take a bite on one of the suspects who was already detained. The testimony also claimed that the OIC consented to the request. It was not the first bite case involving Officer Mohr that was under scrutiny. Officer Mohr’s first trial ended in a hung jury. She was convicted in the second trial and ordered to serve a 10-year federal prison term. The OIC who consented to her request was convicted and sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Officer Mohr has always maintained her innocence and believes that she was the victim of a politically motivated prosecution. Indeed, local station WTTG-TV reported at the time: “Citizen complaints and a string of media reports prompted a federal investigation of excessive force by officers.” While that may very well have been the case, it only highlights my point about overt displays of aggression with your dog.

In addition to other problems, you may be feeding the appetite of a politically motivated prosecutor who will come back to bite you in the end — no pun intended.

Dog Abuser?

Remember this as well. People in our society revere dogs. Many have dogs as pets. They see the dog as a guardian and companion. They see the dog as innocent and free of politics, race, personal vendettas, etc. If you promote the use of your dog as a deadly weapon or involve the dog in an unjustified use of force, the public will blame you, not the dog. In fact, they may punish you even harder for what they perceive as animal abuse.

You Create Public Perception

You carry a firearm. Would you take it out and point it at someone just for kicks? Do you want law enforcement magazines to feature covers of firearms with the business end of the barrel blazing and dead suspects lying bleeding in the street? If you had to shoot someone, would you want to be recorded bragging or laughing about the carnage?

Because you work a K9, the public pays closer attention to you than to the ordinary officer on the street. That is because of their fascination with and affinity for the K9. You must always be mindful of what you are doing and saying with your dog.

Assume that it is being recorded somewhere. This applies whether you are on or off duty, working in the public, attending a seminar, or simply training.

It takes only one misstep on the street or off the street with your dog to hang you up later in court.

Be smarter about what you do. Present your K9 as a law enforcement asset that is to be respected, not feared, and is there to protect the public, not harm them.

Community Opposition

The damage done by this type of imagery extends far beyond the courtroom and affects decisions as to whether a community will even accept the presence of a K9 unit. One of my former students was the late unit commander of the Atlanta Police Department’s K9 Unit. He told me how images of police dogs being used on civil rights protestors in the 1960s in the South were so embedded in the minds of city officials 40 years later that they still would not approve police K9s for anything other than narcotics detection.

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John M. Peters is an attorney who has been practicing police liability law in the state and federal courts for more than thirty years. When not in court, John participates in decoy work, tracking, aggression, and obedience for sport and at the many police canine workshops he attends. John’s legal and canine backgrounds led to requests for him to serve as an author, instructor, and legal adviser to the police canine community where his canine legal seminars are in high demand.

Email: caninelawyer@gmail.com