As noted by others, police dogs are tools, and like other tools they can be used for many purposes. Specifically, they are deadly tools, with the potential to kill or maim.
Unlike other deadly tools, police dogs have a mind of their own, which makes their use perilous. A dog may bite in a situation where a human officer would have excercised restraint.
As noted by others, they are also useful for intimidation, but intimidating is something that police officers already do too much of.
All in all, I’d agree that dogs are not useful in the scenarios under discussion of the goal is deescalation and a bloodless resolution. For this reason, I’d agree with this ban.
And I beleive this is a key point, dogs bite and bites can get infected and flesh ripped apart. It’s not like a baton or stun gun that is under a humans control. Granted, humans can lose control but at least they can be held accountable.
I think it’s time we got rid of police dogs as attack/compliance tools for sure. They bite down on someone with their teeth and if that person defends themself it’s treated as an attack on a police officer.
Do you know this because you’ve been seriously chewed on by a dog, and you were able to hold still?
I have no idea whether I’d be able to do that. (And remember that it isn’t only punching or knifing the dog that would count. Struggling is very often also considered to be illegal resistance, and can bring on further punishment.)
… and go to jail for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of five years.
In most jurisdictions police dogs are accorded special protections and are sometimes actually classified as police officers for purposes of those protections.
The cite below is not some ancient archaic law – it’s one that was enacted in 2015 to strengthen protections for law enforcement animals.
445.01 (1) Every one commits an offence who, wilfully and without lawful excuse, kills, maims, wounds, poisons or injures a law enforcement animal while it is aiding a law enforcement officer in carrying out that officer’s duties
(2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years and, if a law enforcement animal is killed in the commission of the offence, to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of six months; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 18 months or to both. Justice for Animals in Service Act (Quanto’s Law)
You misunderstand. I’m saying that is how things should be, on top of a blanket national ban on using attack dogs. (They aren’t “policing”, they are attacking, maiming, and sometimes killing.)