RIP K9 "Blek" - Page 4

MVF I agree with you, they should just shoot them why sending a dog? Bullets are cheap and easy to replace ;). Why risking a good dog. (j/k) I agree with who ever said innocent people do not run. When you run it means you don't want to face consequences of your own actions, so you should get and be ready to get what is coming your way. My opinion on this is very simple, since it could be a (human) police officer that could get killed, than the dog did his job, it gave his life away for the safety of its handler, for that his death should be honored the same way the police officer death is honor, by making sure that the perp will be charge with homicide (just like it would be in case of killing a police officer), there should not be any distinguish difference between killing a police officer or police K9, period. Police K9 serve very important function, which is to prevent death of their human counterparts (handlers) for such a sacrifice and commitment they should be treated no different as the handler they are protecting.

Ted Dahlin, a Harris County Pct. 4 deputy constable, holds a photo of his police dog, Blek, photographed with Dahlin's daughter, Emily.


Harris County Sheriff's Office
Cornelious Harrell, 17, is accused of choking a police dog on Dec. 22 after police interrupted a burglary. He is charged with burglary and interference with a police service animal, a second-degree felony.


from:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6790106.html
 Prager Hans

Second degree felony "interference"? pathetic

How convenient it must be to live in your simple black-and-white world.  No innocent person runs from the police?  In what country has it ever been true that police have ALWAYS been right, and ALWAYS pursued only the guilty, and treated all suspects with ALL their legal rights?  Do you have no clue as to how many minorities and other disenfranchised (poor, uneducated) people feel the police care very little for their rights and are actually a threat to them?  Do you really kid yourself into believing no one ever runs due to fear instead of guilt?  Are you so young and naive to not understand race relations in the US -- and why a young black man may have very good reasons to fear that he will not be treated fairly AT ANY STAGE of the legal process?

Police do a tough job and need special protections in doing so -- but ABSOLUTE rules belong only in totalitarian regimes, not in a democracy.  This is not just an academic view, it is a practical one.

And my research, by the way, involves in part how bias and discrimination impacts the arrest, treatment, and conviction of the accused -- by gender and race.  So it may annoy you, but I do read the legal research.  

For those of you who can hold two ideas in your head at once: none of this is to say that I think police K-9s do not deserve enormous legal protections.  Nor would I object to jail sentences for convicted criminals who harm, abuse, or kill them.  In fact, I would like stiffer sentences for people who harm, abuse or kill ALL animals.

Max penalty for that is 20 years. I doubt that he gets that much since that he was protecting his brother will be mitigating circumstance. I hope that he gets at least 19 and 1/2though. You know that as soon as he gets out he will be doing  something unsavory.
Prager Hans

How much do you want to bet that the dog would not have been sent after the white daughter of the mayor?

And can none of you put yourselves in the shoes of the 17 yo black kid trying to protect his friend from the gsd attacking his buddy?

Is all your chatter about shooting kids just bluster, or are you all so very limited that you cannot understand that there are always two points of view?

Even if I was guilty of a burglary, I may well be inclined to pull a K9 off my friend and do what it takes to protect him.  I don't think I would personally try to kill the dog -- although I suspect some of you would!  

Try this little mental experiment.  You are watching a movie about Nazi Germany and the Nazis send a gsd after a couple of Jewish teens who have stolen some money in the ghetto in which they have been locked up.  One teen pulls the dog off his brother and strangles him.  Are you jumping up and down, looking for your bullets, calling for punishment for the Jewish kid?  

Or this one: you are watching a movie about South Africa during Apartheid and you see a white Afrikaner policeman send a gsd after a couple of black youths who have stolen something and are running.  Again, the (innocent) dog attacks one kid, the other kid kills the dog.  Which flag are you waving?  Are you hopping mad at the kid?

Are you sure your issue is really about the legal nuances of police K9 work, or is it tangled up in your jingoism?

Maggie Mae -- only if the suspect thought the police officer was actually trying to kill him.  There is no evidence of that here, so no.

Prager -- I know you have experience with over-reaching regimes, and I thought my point might resonate with you.  I disagree with you that police powers are not central to over-reaching regimes, even when enforcing legitimate laws.  How police powers are executed has always mattered, not just when.


Again, none of this is to say that Blek wasn't a great dog whose death should not be honored.  I know this will make some of you irate, but there may be thousands of pigs, cows, sheep, and other sentient animals who will be treated horrifically today, with little protection or sympathy from most of us.  I wish ALL sentient beings were respected and protected.  I am not arguing for fewer protections for animals.

MVF -- How convenient for you to live in your "academic world" and not be touched by the "real world."   I believe you are a very nice person...but in "la la land."   You appear to live in the past regarding civil rights in this country.  You appear to have not been touched by any crime to yourself/family/friends.   I believe that MOST people will not run if they have nothing to hide.  

What really bothers me are the Liberal Professors who are pushing their own left activist agenda onto the youth....now that is scary.   I have plenty I could say about the Thread Topic, but the argument will just go around in circles.   I would ask that you take off your biased glasses.

MVF -- I doubt very seriously that the White Daughter of the Mayor would be committing burglary for a Wide-Screen TV.

MVF let me guess you are in this minority group aren't you? I hear this shit all the time from people that I meet, worked with etc. it's not my fault that I didn't go to college, that I didn't graduate from high school, that I can't get a job, that I smoke weed all day long, it's because I am black/latino/white trash whatever from a ghetto, wake up call ghetto was in Europe not here in the state, no one stands on the walls with gun in their hands preventing you to move, find other job, go after whatever you want etc. The ghetto is in these people heads a poor excuse at it's best. And btw they live 30 minutes drive by car from me so don't give me poor excuses like that. I seen black/latino/white trash, hardly having enough to eat and doing something positive with their life, you know what made them different? They didn't waste a freaking time for excuses, just went and got what was theirs. And what do you know about leaving in over-reaching regime? I was raised in that regime, my parents, my grandparents, they didn't waste time on excuses either, just went out and got what was theirs. Nazis army never could get full control of Poland even though they were fighting young college kids in underground. There was not a single day that that powerful force felt safe in this country, why? Because people didn't waste time on excuses just fought for what was theirs. And you spend time making excuses for street punks, garbage of the society. As an educator, educate, inspire, don't look for excuse.  My father once said average teachers teach, good teachers inspire. Which group are you in? Can you inspire by making excuses? I don't think so.