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Where Is the Justice for Those Bitten by Police Dogs?
Most maulings are for minor incidents, and very few are held accountable
The Marshall Project recently published a new report on police violence focused on the use of police dogs, finding that the most common targets of K-9 use were Black males.
The nonprofit organization investigated more than 140 cases of dog bite data pulled from police departments in 20 of the largest U.S. cities: Chicago rarely reported the use of dogs and New York City had less than 25 bites, while Phoenix, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Jacksonville, Florida, all reported more than 160 bites.
Many of the bites occurred after minor incidents—like public urination—and most of the victims were unarmed. Most of these bites are not held accountable, “and even when victims can bring cases, lawyers say they struggle because jurors tend to love police dogs — something they call the Lassie effect.”
