Are German Shepherdsreally the best police dogs bar none or there other breeds that could do as well?
Just curious.
It depends what you mean about the best police dogs? Drug sniffers, crowd control, cadaver dogs? Does it depend on the dog, maybe?
There are lots of breeds that do well. Belgian Malinois are now commonly used for police work, and some individuals from the the other related Belgian herding breeds (Belgian sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, and Belgian Lakenois) are also suitable for the work. Dobermans can be used, if you can find lines still bred for working (they are more common in Europe), and so can Rottweilers. Giant and Standard Schnauzers, Beaucerons, Boxers (if you can find working lines, which is hard these days), some of the larger mastiff-type breeds such as the Dogo Argentino and Cane Corso, Akitas, and even some hunting breeds such as Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are all suitable.
It’s more about the individual dog having the proper temperament, drive, working ability, and intelligence than it is about breed.
Baron Greenback also makes a good point: the exact type of police work being performed will influence what breed is used. My list assumed that by “police work” you meant a dog that the police could use to attack and hold a suspect on command, as well as for some general scent/tracking work. Drug dogs are often chosen from hunting breeds (especially retrievers). For real scent-tracking, nothing beats a Bloodhound. Search and Rescue work can be done by almost any breed.
I’ve seen black labs used as sniffer dogs.
I suppose the labs are not as aggressive as German Shepherds, so they wouldn’t be used for more “forceful” police work where being aggressive is important, but they have good enough noses to be used as sniffer dogs.
Ive read that poodles can make good police dogs d/t their intelligence. I spose it would depend on the particular dog and whatever training was required, because the few standard poodles Ive known are hyper hoopers and a bit addle-brained!
As stated, it really depends on what duties you expect from the dog. Shelter dogs have proven valuable as various types of scent and service dogs.
Belgian shepherds (Malinois et al) are faster-maturing, generally more structurally sound and have a better work ethic than many GSDs…but that also depends on bloodline. Am-bred show German shepherds are probably pretty much crap as far as structural and working ability - GSDs from bloodlines bred to work are a better bet. Were I to look specifically for a high-drive working dog, I’d look to some of the European bred Belgian shepherds from working lines. “Aggression” is not a desired trait in any venue. Drive and control, yes. Drive does not = aggression.
Many breeds (or even cross-breeds) can do service/police/military work, though.
Cavalier King Charles spaniels would make great police dogs.
Send a Cav in after a barricaded suspect. The suspect winds up patting the dog, calms down and gives himself up.
It’d work every time.
LOL and for truth.
Same could be said for French bulldogs.
German Shepherds hit the sweet spot of being fairly large, athletic, somewhat aggressive, and highly intelligent. Good ones are also very selective about when and where they display their aggression and are highly protective of the people that they bond with. That makes for a good police dog in general. My younger brother was a K-9 officer for a while and his partner was a female German Shepherd that lived with him. She was the sweetest and smartest dog you ever met until it came time to attack a felon and then she would make a timber wolf blush.
I grew up with a ton of German Shepherds and mixes. They were great family dogs, extremely protective and great with anyone they knew especially if we were around but all bets were off if someone came to the house when we weren’t home. Needless to say, we never got robbed.
The problem German Shepherds in the U.S. is that many of them are greatly overbred and are prone to some genetic and behavioral issues if you don’t select them carefully. Still, some good bloodlines exist but you have to pay a lot for them.
Other dog breeds like Dobermans make good police dogs too but they are a little smaller. There aren’t a whole lot of breeds that have the intimidation factor combined with intelligence and loyalty that good German Shepherds do. Rottweilers are stronger and can be more vicious but they aren’t usually as smart or athletic as German Shepherds. Standard Poodles are smart and athletic but don’t have much street cred.
I had a Belgian Malinois. She was a great dog; intensely loyal without being overly defensive to strangers; lots of energy but with the ability to learn and behave; none of the hip problems German Shepherds. I see them in canine police cars often.
It’s worth mentioning that Malnois and similar breeds are genetically very close to German Shepherds and look pretty much identical. You’ve probably seen them already and assumed they were Germans.
My impression was that German Shepherds were stricken with the curse of popularity and the breed’s quality went downhill fast in the US, so it became easier to find super-high-quality working dogs for police purposes among European breeds of similar descent. Unfortunately the US has some pretty dumb ideas about breeding animals - once a breed is established, the AKC (and most horse related organizations) close the stud book and don’t allow any new genetics into the pool, because then it wouldn’t be “pure”. Combine that with a focus on exaggerated ‘type’ over working ability, and bad stuff happens in short order. European groups tend to be more sensible about such things. (Though in the example I just linked, the UKC is actually being worse than the AKC. Really, a non-Dalmation ancestor thirteen generations back is somehow worse than deliberately breeding dogs with a severe tendency to develop kidney stones? Go ahead, ask me if I feel strongly about this.)
There are plenty of mixed breed dogs that can do police, herding, service, and other work - all you need is a strong dog of about the right size, right mindset, general good health, and sharp mind. However, finding that dog among a litter of carefully bred puppies is far easier than finding one at your local pound, so it doesn’t usually happen.
Malinois, not Malnois. Dammit.
Yes absolutely. I owned a non-working/rescue Mal for years, and have owned Rottweilers who acheived CH titles in various working venues.
Basically, without being extremely knowlegeable about show v working lines (I’m not, actually) blethering on about this or that breed is meaningless prattle.
But I know people in the US dog world who make a concsious effort to avoid the “popular sire” syndrome and who breed infrequently, and then only to multi-generational health-tested and proven (highly titled, Sch 3) non-US lines to foster genetic diversity. Unfortunately such people are in a minority.
Not if you want your subject caught alive. A well-bred Cav is quite capable of licking a person to death. 
Damn it.
To do what? Be a police dog, a german sheperd hits all the right notes, but can he…
out-swim a Newfoundland?= NO
out-game a pitbull?= NO
out-muscle a Tosa inu?= NO
be more loyal than an akita?= NO
bark as much as a chiwawa?= NO
out-smart a jack russel=?=NO
be a better LGD than a Boer boel?=NO
out-run a grey hound?= NO
out sniff a bloodhound?= NO
have more prey drive then a Dogo argintine?=NO
But he can do all of what they do at 70% parality combined as his over-all attribute statistics, that is why non of them can exceed a German-shepherd in being a police dog, so the answer is as a “Police dog” the German shepered is unrivialed, consistancy revolves not only in performance but social propertys as well.
Every breed have there own unique strengths, so I must ask, do you mean hunting dog, fighting dog or guard dog…or do you mean just plain oh Police dog…because the german shepered has been bread that way, it will take a heck of a long time to replicate or make a better Police dog thats consistant as a the german sheperd breed were talking of hundreds of years selective breeding different breeds, traits an qualitys into his geno, which again can be lost in a few lines of back yard breeding designer dogs gone wrong.
First and foremost, generalizations about breed tendencies are just that – generalizations, not applicable to individual dogs, who can vary pretty widely in temperament and ability. It’s common to make too much of breed tendencies.
Of course, dogs picked for serious work like police work are usually exemplars of the tendencies the breed is known for – but that’s partly because the people selecting them weed out dogs who don’t exemplify the characteristics.
A variety of breeds are used by law enforcement for different tasks.
For sniffing work, although Bloodhounds have the reputation for the most sensitive noses, other breeds are used as well. In particular, the dogs used to sniff for contraband fruit and plants in airports are typically Beagles – mostly because Beagles don’t scare people, and they’re good enough to do the work.
The all-time United States record drug bust by a sniffer dog belongs to a US Customs pit bull named Popsicle (because he was rescued from a freezer).
Some police agencies have said they don’t use pit bulls for attacking and subduing suspects (i.e., only for sniffing) because they’re too friendly toward strangers; the “guarding breeds” make better choices for such work. But the Wikipedia list of police dog breeds indicates some police forces use them as “public order enforcement dogs.” I know of at least one team that uses pit bulls for search and rescue work.
It’s worth noting that rats and wasps are being trained to sniff out explosives and other contraband. I doubt they will replace dogs for other duties, though. 
The guys that I know with military working dogs all have Belgian Malinois.
If you’re interested, there’s a Belgian Malinois on the TV show Person of Interest. One of the human characters is disabled, and “Bear” (the dog) is more or less his bodyguard.
Whenever trouble starts, I yell at the screen, “Just drop the leash!”