Police saw the stolen van being driven through Strathcona east along Hastings Street near Dunlevy Avenue just after 9 p.m., according to a statement from spokesman Const. Brian Montague.
Officers followed the van to Victoria Drive where they boxed it in and released Shack the police dog to help get the man under arrest, Montague's statement said.
As the dog bit the man, he grabbed a pair of scissors and "reportedly began stabbing at the police dog," according to Montague.
 |
| Vancouver Police Department K-9 unit member Shack is pictured in this undated file photo. |
The dog's handler and other officers stepped in and eventually arrested the man, Montague said.
The man was treated for his bites and taken to jail, while the dog and another officer had minor injuries, Montague's statement said.
The man, who is known to police, will face several criminal charges including intentionally trying to harm a service dog, Montague's statement said.
Someone in B.C. is bitten by a police dog, on average, once every two days, according to Pivot Legal Society, which filed a civil suit against the RCMP earlier this year.
The suit, along with three others involving serious police dog bite injuries and five lesser cases, was part of Pivot’s push for a provincial working group to draft policy to regulate the use of B.C. police dogs.
Then public safety minister Shirley Bond confirmed in March that the working group, which consists of representatives of all B.C. police forces and Canine Units where dogs are used as a force response, had already met once this year.
The suit claims the RCMP was negligent in training its police dogs in a “bite and hold” method rather than the “bark and hold,” which is used by municipal police forces in New Westminster, Delta and Saanich.
Pivot made a formal complaint to Vancouver police in 2011 asking for a review of the department’s “bite and hold” policy where a police dog, when released to chase a suspect, will bite until its handler calls it off. In January 2012, the Vancouver Police Board dismissed the complaint after Chief Jim Chu told its members that the policy, which he said allows the handler to decide when force will be used, is how over 70 per cent of American police dogs are trained.
The VPD said in a report prepared in response to the Pivot complaint police dogs attended 1023 calls in 2010, and dogs were involved in 140 apprehensions. Of those, 35 to 40 suspects had minor injuries and 85 suspects needed medical attention.
Sgt. Paul Eisenzimmer of the Delta police said each time his officers set a dog on somebody they have to be able to justify the use of that force.
David McAllister, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University who has bred and trained German shepherd dogs — the breed most commonly used for police work — said there has been debate among North American police for over a decade whether barking at a suspect instead of biting is a more effective way for canine units to help arrest someone.
The bite and hold model may be more reliable than the alternative “bark and hold” method for law enforcement because “it’s almost like you’re firing a gun once you release the dog,” he said.
However, police in Los Angeles switched to the bark model in the early ‘90s and saw a tenfold reduction in the number of dog bites and a decrease in the number of lawsuits, McAllister said.
“When you’ve got one that’s eight inches away from your face that’s barking at you — it’s fairly intimidating,” he said.
Pivot lawyers have said, that since 2010, New Westminster and Delta police, which share a canine unit, have practised more restraint and recorded three bites and only one injury.
Eisenzimmer said bite and hold and bark and hold are “archaic” terms. His officers try to use minimal force and each time they set a dog on somebody they have to be able to justify the use of force.
(Vancouver Sun - Dec 9, 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment