I came home from running a few errands and saw two police cars and several other vehicles parked in front of my house.  There were quite a few other people standing around, people I recognized, and four cops, two on the sidewalk and two on the stoop next door.  The people were relatives of my next door neighbors, so I knew this had nothing to do with me.  But I was scared, because my dog was outside, fenced in on the porch.

Cops routinely shoot dogs.  They shoot them when entering homes, they shoot them while cutting through yards, they shoot them from a distance, evidently for sport.  My dog Sammy is a Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix.  He’s 110 lbs. of wiggly friendliness.  Whenever he meets someone new he’s so overjoyed and happy he jumps on them so he can lick their face.  I knew if he did that to a cop we’d be burying him in the back yard.

I moved as quickly as I could without arousing suspicion and locked Sammy inside before going back to talk with my neighbors.  There was some strangeness going on next door that isn’t relevant to this article and I never did find out exactly what happened.

My reactions may sound paranoid, but every week I see stories of cops shooting family pets.  Here are just a few examples.

Frank Agazio accidently dialed 911.  A dispatcher called back and he assured them that there was no emergency.  A cop stopped by to verify it, and the family pet, a 35 lb. bulldog, approached him.  The cop immediately shot him.

Like most Siberian Huskies, Bear-Bear was playful and spunky.  His owner, Rachel Rettaliata, took him to a dog park, where dogs are allowed to run and play in a fenced in area.  A police officer, who is bravely hiding his identify in the wake of this story, took his German Sheppard to the same park.  When Bear-Bear started to play with his dog he pulled out his gun and shot Bear-Bear.  In a public park.  Full of dogs and people.

The police immediately declared it was a righteous shooting and closed the case, but have reopened it in the wake of public outcry.  But the cowardly cop has nothing to worry about.  I have never read of an officer being punished for shooting pets.  Never.  (Note: neither dog had any bite or scratch marks.)

Anna White used to be the owner of Tonka.  Tonka was minding her own business in her fenced in yard when a cop, preparing to execute a search warrant, evidently stood outside the fence and gunned her down.   The dog ran inside, jumped on Anna’s bed, and died.  The cops then dumped the body on the floor and ransacked the bedroom, dumping many of Anna’s belongings into the dog’s pooling blood.

Stacy Clark’s home alarm system went off, and cops responded by shooting his dog.  The cop said he didn’t have time to grab his pepper spray, only time to grab his gun.

So when the cops show up should you tell them about the dog, and lock it away for safety?  Marietta Robinson tried that.  When six cops showed up on her doorstep with a warrant for her grandson, she explained he he hadn’t lived there for years.  She agreed to let them in if she could put her 13 year old pug in the bathroom first.  The cops agreed, then opened the bathroom door and shot the dog to death.  They fired at least eight times.  Then they washed the blood off their hands in her water cooler.

These incidents happen often enough that a blog about them would have fresh material every few days.  (I’ll add a blogroll link to anyone who creates one.)  In every case the officer is exonerated.  Sometimes there’s an “investigation,” where the cops pretend to be concerned about it, but most times they don’t even bother with that.

It’s not surprising the cops routinely use the family pooch for target practice.  Hell, they routinely murder people and get away with it, so why should they take even the slightest chance of getting nipped?

This is yet one more reason The Cops Are Not Your Friends.  Not ever.  You should avoid them whenever possible.  If they come to your house and you have a dog, there is a very good chance they will kill it.

It’s disappointing that the ASPCA or the Humane Society hasn’t made this an issue.  (Occasionally PETA will show up, but no one pays attention to those asshats.)  This is such a common occurrence that it should be a national issue for them. This is a public plea to them to put it front and center, where it belongs.