# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lockfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/41 "2002-06-12T06:03:03Z")
I don’t see how hard it is to comprehend that a dog could be trained to attack a certain group of people based on physical characteristics. This case seems to have a little more to it than simple “racism” but the concept seems absolutley plausible. I found a few articles which address this, most taking place in South Africa. Many cites also seem to be first-hand accounts as well. [http://starbulletin.com/98/08/24/editorial/shapiro.html](http://starbulletin.com/98/08/24/editorial/shapiro.html) [http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:Qeg5pl5V2fAC:www.abdesigns.org/blog/blogarchives/september\_2000.html+"racist+dog"&hl=en](http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:Qeg5pl5V2fAC:www.abdesigns.org/blog/blogarchives/september_2000.html+%22racist+dog%22&hl=en) (Cached page, not sure if that will work or not). > **[Policemen jailed for racist dog attack](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/30/chrismcgreal)** > > Four white South African policemen who ordered their dogs to attack black detainees as part of a "training exercise", and videotaped the results, were jailed for four and five years each yesterday. [http://www.urbanonramps.com/rc/hatecrimes.html](http://www.urbanonramps.com/rc/hatecrimes.html) ---
**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, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/42 "2002-06-12T06:07:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grienspace \* > \*\*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. \*\* It’s fairly easy to distinguish between black people and white people in black-and-white films. Dogs are supposed to have keener eyesight than humans anyway, so even if colour-blind, as a WAG they would certainly be able to at least pick dark-black skin against pale-white. ---
**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 12, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/43 "2002-06-12T17:18:03Z")
But can a dog be inherently racist? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/44 "2002-06-12T19:41:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > But can a dog be inherently racist? Probably about as much as a person can. You can definitely _teach_ dogs (and people) to be racist, however. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/45 "2002-06-12T23:08:36Z")
I don’t think the dog should be killed, just retired and given a home with responsible people who are used to handling agressive dogs. And I speak, btw, as someone who has been maimed by a dog and carried facial scars for almost 30 years. And relevant to nothing at all, I once had a cat who was a total whore around men. She couldn’t give two shits for women (except for me, obviously, she was an affectionate pet) but if a man came over, she was all over them, trying to climb their legs, etc. It was really quite odd. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa\_Ann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lisa\_Ann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa_Ann)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489/46 "2002-06-12T23:47:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grienspace \* > \*\*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. \*\* Dogs may be able to see color: [Vision - How Dogs See](http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/devision.html) I know that has nothing to do with race-color, however the misconception of years past that dogs only see in black and white was discounted and even may change in the future - perhaps they see even more shades of color than we know now. Dogs would have to be trained to discern race by smell. They really don’t care otherwise. Their values and perceptions in life are not human. Yes, dogs are smarter than geneticists. 😉 My dogs target the mailman. That is because he comes to kill us all every day but Sunday. It is a reinforcing behavior. He comes. They bark. He leaves. Thus, they must be scaring him off and protecting us from the evil mailman from Hell. I believe it may have been the excitement of the situation that caused the dog to act. The dog should not be an officer. Hopefully a rescue group could take him in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racial-profiling-police-dogs/113489.md?page=2)