Report Calls for Changes in LAPD K-9 Unit

Los Angeles police should issue verbal warnings when using search dogs, improve their methods of investigating bites, and convene a special panel to review injuries that need treatment beyond a simple bandage, according to a Police Commission report on the department’s controversial K-9 unit.

The subcommittee report, scheduled for discussion by the commission at its Tuesday meeting, is the result of an eight-month review prompted by allegations that LAPD dogs have needlessly mauled hundreds of people, most of them African-Americans and Latinos.

The 46-page report addressing the unit’s policies and practices concludes with nine recommendations. But as it states in its introduction, the report does not address the misconduct claims in a pending class-action lawsuit filed by a coalition of public interest groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Paul Hoffman, the ACLU’s legal director, said Saturday that although the report includes some good recommendations, it appears to ignore the key questions raised in the Superior Court case: whether the dogs are used more in minority communities, and whether they have been allowed to bite people who pose no threat.

“It seems to avoid taking a position on whether the allegations in all these lawsuits are correct, maybe to avoid getting entangled in that question,” Hoffman said. “But it’s difficult to come up with the reform really necessary without dealing with those issues. So they’ve made some positive steps, but because of their self-imposed limits, haven’t been able to take all the steps necessary.”

Police Commissioner Ann Reiss Lane, who headed the K-9 subcommittee, could not be reached for comment. Richard Dameron, the commission’s executive officer, said the report was in draft form and still subject to change.

Commission President Jesse A. Brewer said he had not read the report and was not prepared to comment.

Brewer said, however, that the study was intended to review the K-9 unit’s policies, not investigate specific allegations of misconduct. He also said the commission never intended to stop the use of search dogs, which are credited in the report with enhancing officer safety and saving thousands of hours of human labor a year.

“It’s just a matter of how it’s been used and whether or not we should make any changes,” Brewer said.

The report compares the LAPD’s use of search dogs with that in other major cities--including San Diego, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Indianapolis--and notes that unlike the Los Angeles Police Department, the other police departments routinely issue warnings when dogs are deployed. The report also says that in many instances, the announcement of a police dog’s presence is enough to induce early surrender.

“Announcement should, therefore, be the rule rather than the exception,” the report says.

In other recommendations:

* Bites should be documented on standardized reports--whether the victim is a suspect, a bystander or an officer--and the “inclusion of photographs in the investigative package should also be thoroughly studied.”

Now, the report says, bites of suspects are recorded on K-9 search forms, while bites of other people are written up on administrative or injury reports, making thorough investigations difficult. Photographs are not routinely taken, according to the report.

* A special board should be convened to review bites requiring hospitalization or any medical treatment “beyond simple cleansing and dressing.” Such reviews would be similar to those in use-of-force incidents. The Police Commission would have final review.

* A patrol and/or K-9 supervisor should be present whenever dogs are used. But if someone is bitten, a K-9 supervisor must conduct the investigation.

The report also says that the department’s training approach is changing, from a method that teaches the dog to find a suspect and hold him or her to one that teaches finding the suspect and barking. “The department has a strong training program which is well respected by other K-9 units,” the report says.