http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,55010,00.html Police Dog Accused of Racial Profiling McKEES ROCKS, Pa. — A Pennsylvania councilwoman has accused her borough's lone police dog of racial profiling, leading to calls that the canine be killed. Dolpho, a 5-year-old German shepherd, can sniff out the difference between mar1juana, heroin and cocaine. The dog came from Europe two years ago and is trained in drug detection and patrol. But councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon said Dolpho can also tell the difference between blacks and whites, and should be put to sleep. On Friday, while K-9 officer Schawn Barger wrestled with a drug suspect, he said a quick-release button on his belt was activated, accidentally opening a door to the K-9 wagon. The dog lunged from the vehicle and bit a 9-year-old boy on the leg instead of the suspect, dragging him for about 20 feet, family members said. The boy is black. Councilwoman Dixon told the city council she has received six complaints about Dolpho in the past year. Three of the people who complained were involved with drugs. Three others were blacks who believe the dog jumped at or attacked them because of their race. "I had received complaints from African-Americans saying they believe the dog only attacks African-Americans," councilwoman Dixon said Monday. "I think the dog makes the distinction." Officer Barger, who has worked with Dolpho for more than two years and takes the dog home with him at night, said the dog has never gone after the wrong person before. He said Dolpho became confused during a tense situation. "The dog saw movement. There was a lot of noise — a lot of screaming," Barger said. "It was basically just complete chaos and the dog, he just could not tell who the bad guy was and who the good people were." The boy was treated for a dog bite and released Friday. He limped into the council meeting Monday with his mother, Lorraine Livingston. "This is something that will take him a while to get over," Livingston said. "The officer had no control over that animal. That dog should be put to sleep." Experts differ on whether dogs can discern race. The owner of the Tom Brenneman School for Canines near Lawrence, Kan., has trained more than 600 dogs for police departments nationwide. He said dogs determine targets by scent alone and see only gray and white. Tom Brenneman said the dogs can be trained to recognize the scent of drugs, explosives and also that dogs can smell fear. "As far as it being black or white or Hispanic, that doesn't have anything to do with it," he said. A national expert on animal behavior at Tuft's University School of Veterinary Medicine said dogs not only can determine race, but can develop prejudices similar to humans. Dr. Nick Dodman said that prejudice can be based on a lack of exposure to different people or because of a bad experience. Dolpho has since been taken off active duty, but the department is standing behind him. Chief Robert Martineau said the dog is good around children and even visits area schools and day care centers. "To say the dog is racial ... that's ludicrous. That doesn't make sense," Martineau said. No decision was made on Dolpho's future Monday. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Uhhh... Aren't dogs colorblind? (anticipated smartass answer: Yep, they see in black and white...) As a side note, I swear my parents' Yorkshire Terrier is racist, too...
Racism is a very sensitive issue for alot of people. As for this its a very difficult situation but I would like to think there are other options than execution.
my Chihuahua barks at black people but i think it has to do with the fact that i gave swim instructions to my neighbors daughter who was black and they would come over and see how she was doing and all the while while i terrified my dog by bringing him into the water with us...ahhhh he hates it...thus he equates black people to the swimming pool. or he's a racist dog and learned it from tv...
Maybe the majority of the drug cases the dog was involved with involved African-Americans. In this case the dog could grow to associate African-Americans with its job. It is asking a little much of a dog to expect him to disassociate a person's ethnicity from it's duty. It isn't like the cops can reason with the dog that most of the African-Americans in the community are good people. Dogs can't understand complex issues like racism, the only learn from experience and repetition.
Alot of training for dogs is done with the 'assailent' in Dark to Black coloring. Some dogs are taught to be racist. REAL STORY. I was walking with a white professor at Texas A&M. He was a bit ahead of me becuase i had tied my shoe or something. He passes this car. NOTHING As I pass the car the dog leaps to stick his head out of the window trying to take my head off. I barrelled into the Prof [Still made the A for the Class ] Me and the Prof comment on how dogs are trained etc. He said his sisters dog was racist too. He said the dog learned it from his sister Rocket River
