LOS ANGELES : ACLU Drops Demand to Suspend Use of Police Dogs
The American Civil Liberties Union has withdrawn its demand for a moratorium on the use of police dogs while the Los Angeles Police Department retrains the animals to bark rather than bite when they spot suspects.
Spokesman for the ACLU said they dropped the moratorium demand after reviewing a status report on the implementation of several recommendations made by the Police Commission for changing methods of the canine unit.
The report, which was given to commissioners Tuesday, said that the unit has begun issuing warnings to suspects before releasing dogs and that its 16 dogs will be retrained to use a “barked alert” method of finding suspects by the end of the year.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the city in recent years as a result of police dog bites, including a class action suit by the ACLU which claims that the dogs were most often used against minorities.
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