Don’t Shoot the Dogs: The Growing Epidemic of Cops Shooting Family Dogs
“At a time when police are increasingly inclined to shoot first and ask questions later, it doesn’t take much to provoke a cop into opening fire on an unarmed person guilty of doing nothing more than standing a certain way, or moving a certain way, or holding something—anything—that police could misinterpret to be a weapon.
“All a cop has to do is cite an alleged “fear” for his safety.
“According to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, all it takes for dogs to pose a sufficient threat to police to justify them opening fire is for the dog to move or bark.
“Even in the absence of an actual threat, the perception of a threat is enough for qualified immunity to kick in and for the cop to be let off the hook for behavior that would get the rest of us jailed for life.”
Of course, one has to ask how many dogs and how many humans would be still alive if cops were not armed. In country’s with unarmed cops, how many humans and dogs are killed by cops? Hint: the number is zero or near zero.
https://mailchi.mp/rutherford/dont-shoot-the-dogs-the-growing-epidemic-of-cops-shooting-family-dogs-by-john-w-whitehead
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