What are the police rules about shooting potentially dangerous dogs?

[astro]

This local story made me wonder if there is a general set of guidelines for law enforcement personnel regarding shooting dogs that may pose a potential threat?

[Gfactor]

Here’s a pretty good discussion of the law on the subject: http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ovuspoliceshootingpets.htm (click on detailed discussion near the bottowm for the nuts and bolts).

Newspaper article about frequency of animal shootings: http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/14/20070114-B3-02.html

I’ve got nothing so far on police department rules about shooting animals.

[Gfactor]

This is probably* a typical department rule:

5. An officer may also use a firearm under the following circumstances:
   a. During range practice and qualification or competitive sporting events.
   b. To destroy an animal that represents a threat to public safety, or as a humanitarian measure where the animal is seriously injured. The officer will obtain a supervisor’s permission before taking such action.

http://www.utexas.edu/police/manual/a12.html

• It’s the only one I actually found online.