“Honest LEO’s who are Freepers need to comment on the truth that common current police doctrine is to shoot any dog that is slightly aggressive to appropriately terrorize the civilians.”
I’ll second that. I’d like to know what is standard police doctrine regarding a dog in or on the premises of a private residence to which a police officer has been summoned or dispatched. It appears, rightly or wrongly, that “first take down the dog” is SOP.
My thoughts are the officer is wrong. He was at the wrong address. It was the correct one given by dispatch so that is his only cover.
My issue is that he pulls his gun on the male person walking around the corner, yells at him to put up his hands, then yells to control the dog, then he shoots.
This occurs in the span of about 2 seconds. The male citizen was not expecting the police so I am sure he was startled, which startled the dog.
Once you put your gun into your hand you have great difficulty transitioning to another less lethal weapon. He should never have had his gun out unless he saw a weapon. This would have allowed him to transition to another weapon or take the extra second or two to determine if he was indeed under a threat.
Too many LEO’s pull the gun when there is no need.