Associated Press
McKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) - Dolpho, a 5-year-old German shepherd can tell the difference between marijuana, heroin and cocaine but whether he can differentiate race could mean life or death for the police dog.
A McKees Rocks councilwoman said the borough’s lone police dog targets blacks and should be put to sleep.
The dog was imported from Europe two years ago and is trained in drug detection and patrol.
On Friday, while K-9 officer Schawn Barger wrestled with a drug suspect, he said a quick-release button on his belt was activated, inadvertently opening a door to the K-9 wagon.
The dog bolted from the vehicle and bit a 9-year-old boy on the leg, not the suspect, and dragged him for about 20 feet, family members said. The boy is black.
Councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon told the city council that she has received six complaints about the dog in the past year, but acknowledges three of those complaints were from people involved with drugs.
“I had received complaints from African-Americans saying they believe the dog only attacks African-Americans,” councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon said Monday. “I think the dog makes the distinction.”
Barger, who has worked with the dog for more than two years and takes the dog home with him at night, said the dog has never gone after the wrong person before.
He said the dog became confused on Friday during a tense situation.
“The dog saw movement. There was a lot of noise - a lot of screaming,” Barger said. “It was basically just complete chaos and the dog, he just could not tell who the bad guy was and who the good people were.”
The 9-year-old boy was treated for a dog bite and released on Friday. He limped into the council meeting Monday with his mother. Lorraine Livingston, 50, lifted her son’s shirt to show red marks under his arm where she said he was also bitten. The boy’s right knee was bandaged.
“This is something that will take him a while to get over,” Livingston said. “The officer had no control over that animal. That dog should be put to sleep.”
Experts differ on whether dogs can discern race.
The owner of the Tom Brenneman School for Canines in near Lawrence, Kan., has trained more than 600 dogs for police departments nationwide. He said dogs determine targets by scent alone and see only gray and white.
Tom Brenneman said the dogs can be trained to recognize the scent of drugs, explosives and also that dogs can smell fear.
“As far as it being black or white or Hispanic, that doesn’t have anything to do with it,” he said.
But a national expert on animal behavior at Tuft’s University School of Veterinary Medicine said dogs not only can determine race, but can develop prejudices similar to humans.
Dr. Nick Dodman said that prejudice can be based on a lack of exposure to different people or because of a bad experience.
Dolpho has since been taken off active duty, but the department is standing behind him.
Chief Robert Martineau said the dog is good around children and even visits area schools and day care centers.
“To say the dog is racial ... that’s ludicrous. That doesn’t make sense,” Martineau said.
Barger, who has pictures of his young daughter climbing on the dog, said Dolpho has never gone after the wrong person and that he misses his partner.
“He’s part of my family and it’s disturbing,” Barger said. “He’s a police officer just like I am.”
No decision was made on Dolpho’s future Monday.