The Commissioner was a little more definitive when we asked him about the practice of police killing residential dogs. It's a problem we have reported on many times over the years: cops burst into a yard on some kind of search, encounter an aggressive dog faithfully protecting his or her master's property - and the cops then shoot it.
It recently happened in Lake I with Junior the pitbull - who was shot and killed by a member of the Gi3. Police say the dog bit the cop- but the Compol said using lethal force on mans best friend is an over-reaction:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"And we have long advised our officers that if it is that you are to go to a person's home and there is any ferocious dog there, if you are attacked by the dog, then you use a non-lethal bullet as opposed to the lethal ones. If there is no need to use any of the type of ammos on the dogs, then don't do so. But we know that there are instances where house owners do let the dog go at the police, in those instances where that happens, then the police will have to defend themselves. In this case, as you were saying where the dog was on a leash and still reached where the police officer was and had bitten the officer then I don't know if using the lethal bullet was the right call. If there is no need to harm the dog then don't do so, that is what we stand for."
