Canine curriculum

COEUR d'ALENE - This week, Coeur d'Alene Police Department officers began mandatory training on how to handle encounters with dogs.

Following a trend occurring throughout Idaho and in other states, Interim Police Chief Ron Clark announced Thursday that all 72 officers in the department are required to take the video-based training. Since no training on the subject is available through the Idaho Peace Officer Standards Academy, leadership looked to other agencies and found curriculum made available by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"The reason for this is in light of recent events and dog shootings that have gone on in our agency and other agencies throughout the country," said Sgt. Christie Wood. "It's clear that law enforcement probably hasn't had a lot of specific training on this."

The video series, Wood said, features a dog trainer who details how to read a dog's body language in order to recognize a scared dog as opposed to a dangerous dog. If there is a threat, the videos teach officers how to neutralize the animal using non-lethal means if possible.

"Sometimes officers aren't in a position where they can compromise their safety at all," Wood said. "But other times we do have the amount of time where we can make an assessment."

Wood said although the department does not keep statistics regarding the number of incidents where an officer is attacked or bitten by a dog, actual attacks are infrequent. Encounters with aggressive dogs are another story.

"It's something that we encounter very, very often," Wood said. "Overall we've been very successful in dealing with pets. Our officers use very good discretion overall when dealing with pets and this is just one more tool to help them."

Incidents of dogs being shot by police officers are a national issue, Wood said, and other agencies are pursuing similar training curriculum.

In 2014, Idaho law enforcement officers shot and killed three dogs, including the recent shooting of a dog at Java on Sherman in Coeur d'Alene. In February, a 7-year-old black Labrador was shot by a police officer in front of a home where a birthday party was taking place in Filer, Idaho, just outside Twin Falls.

In Colorado last year, lawmakers passed the Dog Protection Act, which made the state the first in the nation to enact legislation requiring law enforcement officers to be trained for encounters with dogs.

"It is the policy of this state to prevent, whenever possible, the shooting of dogs by local law enforcement officers in the course of performing their official duties," the bill states.

The bill passed in the Colorado Legislature without a single dissenting vote.

At the beginning of the year, the Boise Police Department adopted a similar mandatory training using the Department of Justice material.

"Our officers come into contact with dogs many times every single day," said Lynn Hightower, a spokesperson for the department. "We want to do everything we can to keep our officers safe, to keep pets safe and to keep the community as a whole safe. This training just reinforces that."

Hightower added that new officers are trained by the department's K-9 handlers and the additional training they now receive from the Department of Justice videos are used as a supplement.

"We've had a lot of positive reaction from our officers who have taken the training," Hightower said.

Kootenai County Undersheriff Dan Mattos said when he read a July 12 article in The Press detailing the Department of Justice training materials, he immediately contacted a captain at the office in charge of training.

"We've been engaging in it since the day after I read it in the newspaper," Mattos said. "It's pretty obvious to me that it's something we better get on quick."

Training at the police department began Monday and Wood said the officers will be allotted time during their shifts to watch the training videos. Completion of each video will be recorded by the department and signed off by a supervisor.

"Less lethal options, when possible, are always better because it's a tragedy for everyone involved," Wood said. "That's the hope - that proper training for officers, that when they encounter something like this, they know they have other options."