Officer Training Expected to Reduce Dog Shootings

Having shot and killed 98 dogs in the last two years, the Los Angeles Police Department is launching a training program to help officers handle vicious animals.

Officers in West Los Angeles will undergo training by city animal-control experts as part of an effort to reduce the number of dogs killed each year, said Dan Knapp, general manager of the Animal Regulation Department.

“I think that will help them respond with less deadly force,” Knapp said. He added that he hopes eventually to expand the program to other parts of the city.

LAPD Cmdr. Dan Koenig said 98 dogs were shot by officers in the two years ending in April, often in cases where officers were responding to calls of dogs attacking children. Last year, eight of the 47 fatal dog shootings were in the San Fernando Valley. The year before, nearly one-third were in the Valley.

“It’s just the nature of the business in this city that you get dogs attacking people, and we have to step in and do something,” Koenig told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee this week.

Koenig said his officers often can respond much faster to a call for help from a resident than city animal-control officers can.

West Valley Councilwoman Laura Chick, the panel’s outgoing chairwoman said she is glad the city is taking steps to minimize the number of dog shootings, but she said there are times when officers will have to use deadly force.