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Brickbat: Good Cop, Bad Cop

Charles Oliver | 3.27.2015 6:00 AM

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San Diego police responding to a domestic disturbance call went to the wrong address, where one of them killed the homeowner's service dog. Ian Anderson said that when he opened the door after the officers knocked, his dog came up behind him. One of the officers reached down to pet the dog. The other stepped back, drew his weapon and shot the dog.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

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  1. invisible furry hand   10 years ago

    One of the officers reached down to pet the dog. The other ... shot the dog.

    Good cop, bad cop, eh?

    1. Monty Crisco   10 years ago

      I don't get it....

    2. straffinrun   10 years ago

      After killing the dog, the officer told it to roll over. Explains the other 6 shots.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

    "The preservation of life is our top priority and this includes the lives of animals," the statement says. "This incident is currently being investigated as any Officer Involved Shooting would be to assure proper procedures were followed. Any further comments prior to the completion of the investigation would simply be premature."

    They hold onto those procedures quotes like a security blanket. I do like the restraint they show in making comments on guilt when it's one of their own. Any other shooter would be named and shamed immediately.

    1. UnCivilServant   10 years ago

      They will find that the cop which tried to pet the dog failed to follow procedures.

      1. sarcasmic   10 years ago

        Doubt it. All the cop has to do is utter the magical incantation "I feared for my life."

        1. UnCivilServant   10 years ago

          "I feared for my life so I tried to pet the dog"? Did you read my comment?

          1. Swiss Servator... Switzy!   10 years ago

            We are supposed to read comments?!

            1. UnCivilServant   10 years ago

              If not, why do I even try to snark?

              1. Pope Jimbo   10 years ago

                Same reason the scorpion stung the frog?

          2. sarcasmic   10 years ago

            Read?

    2. Rich   10 years ago

      "The preservation of life is our top priority and this includes the lives of animals," the statement says.

      Uttering this kind of statement ("The safety of our customers is our number one concern." "We take these matters extremely seriously.") should be grounds for immediate dismissal.

    3. sarcasmic   10 years ago

      I seem to remember after a cop shot a dog in Florida that the police department were briefly honest when they said they don't value the lives of pets at all (unless it's a K9 that is).

      1. kV   10 years ago

        "Unless it's a K9"

        Yeah, IIRC, there's a relatively new federal law under which you can get up to 10 years in prison for assaulting a police animal.

        1. sarcasmic   10 years ago

          Meanwhile it's standard procedure for them to kill your dog.

  3. John Galt   10 years ago

    We're all dogs.

    1. Monty Crisco   10 years ago

      YOU'RE A TOWEL!!!

      1. WTF   10 years ago

        Wanna get high?

        1. invisible furry hand   10 years ago

          Funky Town!

          1. Vapourwear   10 years ago

            That's it!

    2. mr lizard   10 years ago

      You're all food... And some are delicacies.

  4. WTF   10 years ago

    One of the officers reached down to pet the dog. The other ... shot the dog.

    But cops aren't dangerous psychopaths, nope, not at all. Because this is how normal people behave.

    1. some guy   10 years ago

      Only one was a psychopath. The other tried to pet the dog and is now covering for his partner. He's just a hypocrite, an oathbreaker and a jerk.

      1. WTF   10 years ago

        The other one was just a psychopath who happened to like dogs.

        1. straffinrun   10 years ago

          Ha!

  5. Libertarian   10 years ago

    More professionalism:

    An ABC7 I-Team investigation discovered police officers in the D.C. area have been found at fault in hundreds of accidents, causing deaths, injuries and thousands of dollars in damages.

    The ABC7 I-Team obtained databases from six jurisdictions, looking at accident reports from Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, as well as Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties in Virginia. We crunched the numbers and discovered that since 2010, there have been more than 2,300 at-fault accidents in those counties.

    http://www.wjla.com/articles/2.....09196.html

    1. Monty Crisco   10 years ago

      I'm sure THAT story is gonna get a lot of traction in the MSM...

    2. some guy   10 years ago

      "That's a nice I-Team you got there. Shame if somethin' was to happen to it."

      DC needs a more interesting accent.

      1. JW   10 years ago

        DC needs a more interesting accent.

        What? Ours is a rich tongue, laced with corruption and graft.

    3. Steve G   10 years ago

      Major John Price with the Fairfax County Police Department, says, "I wouldn't say it's a part of doing business, but it's a part of the process for accountability for our officers and for the county."

      What in the actual hell. 'I wouldn't say it's a part of doing business, but the rest of my sentence is going to basically say its a part of doing business.' These clowns.

  6. Cdr Lytton   10 years ago

    Woodburn bank bombing hero: 'Unthinkable' how fellow cops later left him shot, bleeding

    1. Swiss Servator... Switzy!   10 years ago

      Inconceivable!

    2. Steve G   10 years ago

      "I have no fear of retaliation - that's what keeps a lot of cops quiet," Mikkola said.

      Free to fully remove the mask I see

  7. SusanM   10 years ago

    Ian Anderson said...

    Serves him right for "Bungle in the Jungle"

    1. WTF   10 years ago

      "Aqualung" makes up for a lot of sins.

  8. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

    Bloody incompetent, inhumane (and murderous) boobs.

    1. Slammer   10 years ago

      Leave boobs out of this.

    2. JW   10 years ago

      You misspelled pants-shitting cowards.

  9. Scruffy Nerfherder   10 years ago

    San Diego cops are a particular type of nuts. My wife worked for the POA's attorney for a few years so we got invited to the Christmas parties.

    They make SAE look like a bible study group.

  10. Rich   10 years ago

    One of the officers reached down to pet the dog. The other stepped back, drew his weapon and shot the dog.

    Let's not jump to judgment here, folks. Perhaps the second officer interpreted the petting as a furtive gesture and meant to shoot the first officer.

  11. Pope Jimbo   10 years ago

    WTF? That first video was horrible. The dog was clearly not going to attack the cop.

    How can you be a cop if you are so fucking scared of a dog that your only thought is to shoot an obviously friendly pooch?

    It should also be pointed out that 5 minutes of training would have taught him that if you are confronting a dog that you aren't sure if it friendly or not, running or backing away quickly is a really bad idea.

    1. Enjoy Every Sandwich   10 years ago

      Really! Maybe it's just because I grew up in a small town, but I find it hard to fathom how anybody would need training to know how to act sensibly around dogs. It's just something that I was taught growing up, and the teaching was reinforced by daily contact with them.

      Is that it? Is the pool of people from which police officers are drawn just folks who for some reason have never been around dogs and don't know diddly-squat about them?

      1. Pope Jimbo   10 years ago

        EAP, I agree with you. Same for me. I grew up around dogs and the town was small enough that most dogs weren't fenced in. Just learned how to deal with them.

        My kids are the same way. Grew up around dogs and have no fear of them.

        I think that is the root cause of this is just a basic fear of dogs. Why hire a person who is afraid of dogs to work as a cop?

    2. straffinrun   10 years ago

      Better safe than...who am I kidding, they aren't sorry.

  12. FlaLibertarian   10 years ago

    After watching the video I have to say that your summary isn't accurate. Saying "The other stepped back, drew his weapon and shot the dog." strongly implies one or two steps back and an immediate shot. In fact there is a long series of events and the dog is shot off camera so the only evidence we have is the dog owner's statement. There are enough legitimate cases of police overuse of force to use as examples without us jumping to conclusions on this one. We must guard against becoming the "Al Sharptons" of the liberty movement.

    1. Drake   10 years ago

      Bullshit. I've kicked my share of aggressive dogs. A grown man can put the boot to most dogs smaller than a mastiff with little chance of injury and no major damage to the dog.

      A grown man carrying pepper spray and a taser? He shot the dog for pleasure, no other reason is even remotely possible.

      1. FlaLibertarian   10 years ago

        It's amazing how much this sounds like Al Sharpton's bunch

        1. FlaLibertarian   10 years ago

          The point is there's no audio, video isn't clear, and we can't see through the house. We need the rest of the facts so we can make a logical decision about what really happened. Emotionally jumping to conclusions like this is what we criticize others for doing! Remember the name of this publication is "Reason"

    2. Enjoy Every Sandwich   10 years ago

      I hesitate to directly contradict you since I can't look at the video right now. But as a general thing, I'm still going to call it police overuse of force unless the police can come up with evidence justifying the shooting, rather than requiring the dog owner to prove the dog's innocence. That's the standard that would be applied to me in a similar situation; if I shot somebody's dog I would be obliged to justify the act. That ultimately is the issue: do we let LEOs act with impunity? Why?

  13. Bones   10 years ago

    Isolated incident. Nothing to see here.

  14. Bean Counter   10 years ago

    I might point out that you are not supposed to pet a service dog. They are always on duty and they should't be distracted.

  15. jdgalt   10 years ago

    This will continue to happen as long as the badge thugs who do it aren't punished, either by the system or by victims.

  16. Rich   10 years ago

    "Benefit" and "Stand Up" are classic albums.

  17. WTF   10 years ago

    Good ones, yeah.

  18. Old Man With Candy   10 years ago

    Yes, they are. Also This Was. Aqualung was... mediocre.

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