Gainesville Police Dog Bites Eight-Year-Old During Search Demonstration

My initial observation here, and one conspicuously absent from the article, can be phrased in the form of a question...

...which unfortunately has an obvious answer:

Why are the police conducting search demonstrations for elementary school students?

Gainesville Police Dog Bites Eight-Year-Old During Search Demonstration

An 8-year-old Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Elementary student was bitten by a Gainesville Police dog during a Friday afternoon demonstration on the school’s playground.

The animal, Roo, and his handler officer, Jeff Kerkau, were performing a search demonstration inside a fenced-in area of the playground when the excited child on the other side opened the gate, according to a press release from GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias.

Roo ran toward the gate and bit the child on his upper-right thigh. Officer Kerkau ran after Roo and pulled it off the child. After the incident, the child had puncture wounds on his thigh, but it didn’t appear severe enough to require stitches, Tobias said.

“We regret that this incident occurred and sincerely hope that this child has a speedy recovery from his injuries,” he said.

Alachua County School Board spokeswoman Jackie Johnson said the county won’t cancel future demonstrations, but will work with GPD to make changes in how they are presented.

“We’ve had these presentations in schools and never had an incident that I’m aware of,” She said.

don't dogs who bite people usually get put down?
or is that just for the slaves?

Do Biting Dogs Deserve a Second Chance?...

Each year, roughly 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Only one in five bites require medical attention but to anyone who’s ever been bitten, the severity isn’t necessarily the issue. I’ve known huge men to be terrified of dogs based on a minor incident that occurred decades earlier. And despite the old “man bites dog” joke, dog bites are news. Now more than ever, in this era of breed profiling and bans.

www.cesarsway.com...

originally posted by: Danbones

don't dogs who bite people usually get put down?
or is that just for the slaves?

Yeah, I thought it was standard police procedure to shoot the dog and leave it to suffer until it bleeds to death.

Wait, that's only when the dog isn't state property.

originally posted by: Danbones
don't dogs who bite people usually get put down?
or is that just for the slaves?

Do Biting Dogs Deserve a Second Chance?...

Each year, roughly 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Only one in five bites require medical attention but to anyone who’s ever been bitten, the severity isn’t necessarily the issue. I’ve known huge men to be terrified of dogs based on a minor incident that occurred decades earlier. And despite the old “man bites dog” joke, dog bites are news. Now more than ever, in this era of breed profiling and bans.

www.cesarsway.com...

Flag and star. Good points brought up afterward.
Looks like the dog went attack mode right out of the gate;
no verbal no provocation-- just another free chomp. If that
sounds familiar, he's just another one of the guys.

And I wonder if the little guy will ever get over the attack.
I think for that matter alone, we're doing too good a job of
breed profiling in various areas. Too much like trauma-based
mind control is the norm now, and the dog might get a steak for it.
I'm as usual grateful tonight I don't have kids, I'd be dead by now.

a reply to: NthOther Seems pretty obvious this will end up in a lawsuit. I hope they get the kid some counseling and the dog a better handler. It is pretty terrifying to a child or anyone for that matter to be suddenly attacked by a big dog. I am guessing that animal would have been put down if it was not a police dog that is trained to attack people.

originally posted by: derfreebie

Looks like the dog went attack mode right out of the gate;
no verbal no provocation-- just another free chomp. If that
sounds familiar, he's just another one of the guys.

Exactly. If the police are trained to respond aggressively and with overwhelming force, then it's only "natural" that the dogs would be the same way.

They do take after their owners, after all.

Hopefully they don't find a way to train cats.

originally posted by: NthOther Why are the police conducting search demonstrations for elementary school students?

all part of the conditioning. it starts early.

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: derfreebie

Looks like the dog went attack mode right out of the gate;
no verbal no provocation-- just another free chomp. If that
sounds familiar, he's just another one of the guys.

Exactly. If the police are trained to respond aggressively and with overwhelming force, then it's only "natural" that the dogs would be the same way.

They do take after their owners, after all.

Hopefully they don't find a way to train cats.

You just brought up a detective show I'd rather have
forgotten-- Anne Francis did Honey West, and she had
one smart ocelot. Yes I am that old... and that cat was
more devious than Zeus and Apollo put together.
I hear an echo from Hawaii: Hillerman says, "Patrol..."
It's one of the reasons Selleck stayed in shape that long.

Why are the police conducting search demonstrations for elementary school students?

Well, I suppose it is all about pre-conditioning? They do like to catch them when they are young in America, what with religion and now the police state. Program the little ones to accept both by the time they reach an age when they are supposed to be questioning everything. Getting them at them so young makes them into nice obedient citizens, non-questioning and utterly banal.

a reply to: elysiumfire

The police should have shot the dog on site right? since that's standard protocol isn't it?

Poor dog...had the poor luck to have been trained by an animal.

a reply to: NthOther
Obviously, the dog wasn't trained properly. The first thing a dog should learn is who the leader is. A dog has a pack mentality and the alpha of the pack should be the owner or the trainer in this situation. If the animal can't determine who the alpha is, it will take that role and defend the pack by acting on its own.

That's 100% the handler's fault. To the dog, this is a scenario he's been trained for. To him, the child is no different than any "perp". He was obviously in a state of alert and the handler didn't have control.

It's unfortunate, but if anyone is put down, it should be the handler.

Dog bit a kid at an elementary school? Dog not put down? Hmmm... I'm actually kid of surprised that the officer didn't pull out his sidearm and shoot the kid afterwards. For the children.

a reply to: NthOther

Can anyone publish the home address of the handler so concerned citizens can lodge complaints? These nazis currently live amongst the citizens they abuse. Imagine that.

Cops did this crap when I was in school. They get to prance around posturing for the next generation so kids will know who to fear and what job to get if they too want to prance in front of children.

My dog would have been put down and I would have been sued into oblivion.

I'm sure Sgt Scrappy and his handler got an "attaboy!" and a raise.

Why do gun demonstrations and bring in attack dogs around kids??? Do any of these nuts making decisions think about safety??? Gee whiz....The stupid is getting stupider

one of my sons was bitten by our neighbor's dog when he was young. that dog was allowed to live a long and happy life tied to a clothesline annoying us day and night with his barking. I think it depends on weather or not they can find the owner and confirm the dog has had rabies shots and well if they can restrain the dog quickly?

a reply to: NthOther

First off it's an unfortunate incident, to be sure. Anyone who comments on this article, I'm sure is aware that the majority of dog bite injuries are to children.

The median age of patients bitten was 15 years, with children, especially boys aged 5 to 9 years, having the highest incidence rate

sourcesource

So for an officer to not have 100% control of his dog whilst an "excited child" was nearby, is inexcusable.

To note, my dogs are not comfortable around children, so when children are nearby, I am 100% vigilant; reading my dogs' body cues, watching the child (children) and ensuring that I can body block the child from my dogs (basically inserting my body into the open space between the child and my dogs.)

Not the police dog's fault, if you ask me. It's the handler's fault. He didn't have control. He was not paying careful attention his dog and the surroundings. Going further, the child should not have had access to a gate which he could have opened.

originally posted by: Danbones

Yeah, I thought it was standard police procedure to shoot the dog and leave it to suffer until it bleeds to death.

No that's the new protocol for shooting people, not dogs.