# Racial Profiling Police Dogs??!?!?!?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 11, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489 "2002-06-11T17:50:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/21 "2002-06-11T20:07:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by catsix \* > **The article doesn’t specifically mention it (but the local news might when I get home), so I have no idea if the little boy turned and ran when he saw the dog come out of the car.** Or if the child had been teasing the dog. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/22 "2002-06-11T20:08:12Z")
Good thoughts. Next question. Why does the dog need to be destroyed? At the most take it off duty. In reponse to **Sterra** , I was under the assumption that dogs have generally poorer vision then us. I was also wondering at what shade of dark would the dog start to go off. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/23 "2002-06-11T20:11:29Z")
Jeez Lou-EEZ, I’m a double-posting fool! Sorry. **Belladonna** , I suppose that among other things, the collective “racial scent” would depend largely on the types of foods typically consumed within the culture. I mean, Japanese cuisine is largely different from, say, Southern American cuisine (though there’s a lotta rice, either way), and a diet of deep fried hog maws versus a diet of sashimi could certainly affect a person’s smell. However, if that’s the case, I imagine that using scent as a primary factor for distinguishing race would be as problematic as relying solely on skin color or some other factor. It’s all very interesting. I wish I could be a dog for a few minutes (as long as someone was there to stop me from eating cat shit while I was in that state)… ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/24 "2002-06-11T20:26:20Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone reported that white supremacist groups have trained dogs to attack folks with dark-colored skin (or, conversely, a militant black group has trained dogs to attack folks with light skin). What’s so implausible about that? The dog’s behavior definitely should be investigated. Calling for its destruction without more information is foolhardy, however. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/25 "2002-06-11T20:30:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by auntie em \* > \*\* > I wish I could be a dog for a few minutes (as long as someone was there to stop me from eating cat shit while I was in that state)… \*\* 😃 Damn, thats funny! Hey, while your down there, wanna know what “Doggy Style” is _really_ like? * * * Jesus was in a coma. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/26 "2002-06-11T20:49:21Z")
Dogs can be aware of “race”. I was working at a kennel once and a German Shepard came in who started growling at me but no one else. The owner was visibly embarrassed. Later, one of the managers let me know that the dog was always like that around people with dark skin (and men). I’m not even that dark skinned, but the dog definitely sensed something about me that was different. I’m wondering if the dog in this case was just so excited that as soon as he was let out of the vehicle, he lunged onto the closest moving thing. Sometimes when dogs are watching other animals fight (like through a window or through a fence), they’ll get all crazy and attack the dog closet to them, for apparently no reason. If the dog saw his partner going after a suspect, he might have gotten hopped up on the adrenaline and attacked the boy because he had a taste for blood. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/27 "2002-06-11T20:53:21Z")
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. The reasoning behind destroying the dog could be made thusly: a. The dog is specially trained to be able to attack humans, and presumably is better at it than a non-trained dog. b. The dog has shown an inability, in a stressful situation, to differentiate between foe and bystander. c. The dog, even if retired, may be in such a situation in the future and poses a potential danger to whatever community into which it is placed. Now the caveats before all the animal lovers jump down my throat. (i) I’m not especially fond of dogs, however (ii) I do like other mammals as pets, especially cats and ferrets. (iii) I am not advocating destroying the dog, only trying to see the other side of the argument. (iiii) I think a racist claim might be jumping the gun, unless there is information of which we are unaware (such as how the dogs are trained - are all their training targets black? hispanic?). (v) Politicians will greatly skew a story for their own benefit; so will news outlets. Fear sells in both cases, and charges of racism often will get the politicians’ names in the papers and on the evening news. Ain’t it sad when the disclaimer is longer than the post? ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/28 "2002-06-11T20:58:22Z")
I’m curious about the training issue as well. Are these dogs normally expected to be part of a conflict? Or are they strictly for drug-detection? Maybe their “on-the-job” training taught them something that their official training did not? ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/29 "2002-06-11T21:10:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by D\_Odds \* > \*\*I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. The reasoning behind destroying the dog could be made thusly: > > a. The dog is specially trained to be able to attack humans, and presumably is better at it than a non-trained dog. > b. The dog has shown an inability, in a stressful situation, to differentiate between foe and bystander. > c. The dog, even if retired, may be in such a situation in the future and poses a potential danger to whatever community into which it is placed. > \*\* Valid points. And what I should have said in my first post here is that I don’t think the dog _necessarily_ needs to be put down. It needs looking into. What were the exact circumstances of the attack? We know the dog’s “master” was engaged in a fight with a suspect. Perhaps it was the boy’s father or uncle, and he was trying to help fight off the mean officer. If the dog was (or thought he was) defending the officer against an attack, well…that’s a different matter than if he just lashed out at the nearest person when released. It may be that the dog _is_ too dangerous to live. But I don’t think the article gives us enough information to make that call. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/30 "2002-06-11T21:25:13Z")
My dog doesn’t appear to be racist, but she sure as hell hates dreadlocks. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/31 "2002-06-11T21:25:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by belladonna \* > \*\*I’m curious about the training issue as well. > Are these dogs normally expected to be part of a conflict? Or are they strictly for drug-detection? Maybe their “on-the-job” training taught them something that their official training did not? \*\* This is a very important point. I dont expect these dogs to be jacks of all trades. The dog is for sniffing out drugs, not to quell suspects. I would imagine it would be prudent for the dog to have _some_ type of attack training, but again that was not its purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/32 "2002-06-11T21:35:31Z")
Reminds me of a story I read a few years ago in Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird. In Kosovo, some UN or international aid group had unofficially adopted a local, stray dog as their mascot. A group of Albanians approached them and insisted that dog be put to sleep, because it was “Serbian.” ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/33 "2002-06-12T02:03:18Z")
I’m at work right now, so I don’t have a lot of time to write a thoughtful post of my opinion after reading these, but here are some articles from the Pittsburgh local media (McKees Rocks is in the Pittsburgh, PA area) about the police dog incident. Feel free to read them and see if you get a different ‘spin’ on things. [http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/1506726/detail.html](http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/1506726/detail.html) [http://www.pittsburgh.com/partners/wpxi/news/2002/0610\_copdogbite.html](http://www.pittsburgh.com/partners/wpxi/news/2002/0610_copdogbite.html) [http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh\_west/20020609wburbp9.asp](http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_west/20020609wburbp9.asp) Don’t know if they will shed any more light on this. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/34 "2002-06-12T02:24:41Z")
I’ve known a couple of people who’ve deliberately encouraged their dogs to be aggressive towards Aboriginals, and I’ve also known dogs which simply go psychotic and aggressive at people with certain characteristics (I once had a Newfie which got extremely agitated if someone had the hood on their sweatshirt on their head - she was fine if the hood was down, but would react aggressively if it wasn’t). The red cattle who used to live next door was fine with women and children but loathed men and would seriously attack them. I suspect that at some point in their development these dogs have been praised or otherwise rewarded for a certain behaviour and continue it from then on. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/35 "2002-06-12T03:09:03Z")
I agree with **Ferrous** - it should be looked into first and foremost. It doesn’t seem that the dog in this case is racist, though as other dopers have pointed out, such a phenomenon exists. In any case, it bit a child, dragging him for over twenty feet…a pretty serious attack. This would be grounds for most non-police dogs to be destroyed on. That is, it appears to be more than just a little bite. I love dogs myself, but still…this dog was doing some real damage. Again, it should be looked into, maybe it was just a one time thing. If the dog is racist, perhaps just retire it…something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/36 "2002-06-12T03:23:06Z")
Probably something to do with the letter “G”. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/37 "2002-06-12T04:41:59Z")
From **catsix** ’s first link: > [@](#): > > Witnesses said Barger commanded Dolpho to stop at least four times, but the dog kept going after the boy To hell with racism. Retire the canine. Immediately. No cop should act that way, even if he is a dog. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/38 "2002-06-12T04:56:06Z")
At the risk of upsetting other dog-lovers, destroy the dog. If it behaves this way when it’s “on the job” and ostensibly under the control of its handler, do you really want it living in someone’s community as a pet? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/39 "2002-06-12T05:37:49Z")
Now where are the SDMB big guns on race topics? " there is no scientific basis for the concept of race " etc. Well, considering dogs are colour blind, are we to believe that their acute sense of smell can discern the races? Are dogs smarter than the geneticists ? I do know that paper carriers are a targeted minority in the doggy world. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/40 "2002-06-12T05:51:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > **I wouldn’t be surprised if someone reported that white supremacist groups have trained dogs to attack folks with dark-colored skin (or, conversely, a militant black group has trained dogs to attack folks with light skin). What’s so implausible about that?** Well in this film (sorry to cite a film, but it had the grittiness of something adapted from real life) the “white dog” had been specifically trained to attack black skin since puppihood, by white racists. A black man tried to deprogramme it - but as soon as it got used to his skin, it’s brain was flipped, and it attacked white instead. Given how extremely intelligent some dogs are, and how trainable - eg in sniffing out drugs, tracking, doing stunts and tricks - I don’t see why you couldn’t train a dog in this way. Other than the fact that it would be a sick, appalling, abhorrent thing to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489.md?page=3)